THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

SANTA  BARBARA 

COLLEGE  OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

DR.    PABLO   AVI  LA 


"^{J^'.j^   -y 


z' 


1^ 


RURAL  versus  URBAN 


THEIR  CONFLICT  AND  ITS 
CAUSES 


A   STUDY    OF   THE   CONDITIONS  AF- 
FECTING THEIR  NATURAL  AND 
ARTIFICIAL  RELATIONS 


By 
JOHN  W.  BOOKW ALTER 

Author  of 
**  Siberia  and  Central  Asia,"  etc. 


NEW  YORK 

Ubc  IRnicfterbocher  ipress 

1911 


COPVKIGHT,    19x1 
BV 

JOHN  W.  BOOKWALTER 


TCbc  imfcfierbocfter  prcM,  Ikvm  Corn 


TAYLOR  HATFIELD 

The  efforts  of  whose  impartial  mind  have  ever  been 
directed  to  an  earnest  search  for  truth,  and  whose 
long  and  steadfast  friendship  has  brightened  the 
pathway  of  my  life,  this  volume  is  affectionately 
dedicated  by 

THE  AUTHOR 


PREFACE 

'T'HE  subject-matter  of  thisvoliime  was  originally 
*  contained  in  a  series  of  letters  written  some- 
what hastily  by  the  author,  in  the  spring  of  the 
present  year,  while  on  a  health-seeking  tour  of  the 
Mediterranean  region,  and  while  contemplating  the 
tragic  history  of  the  many  great  nations  that  once 
flourished  there.  They  were  subsequently  pub- 
lished in  a  local  paper  in  Springfield,  Ohio,  and 
received  considerable  attention. 

It  may  perhaps  be  needless  to  say  that  they 
were  written  under  the  disabilities  of  ill-health, 
and  also  under  the  embarrassments  of  insufficient 
data  and  statistical  matter  relating  to  the  several 
subjects  considered,  which  were  not  readily 
obtainable. 

It  might  be  further  added  that  such  statistical 
matter  as  relates  to  the  United  States  being 
necessarily  confined  to  a  range  fixed  by  the  twelfth, 
or  last  (1900),  census  of  the  government,  that 
pertaining  to  other  countries  was  made  to  conform 
as  far  as  possible  therewith,  in  order  that  all 
comparisons  might  be  on  a  full  and  equal  basis. 


vi  Preface 

Having  been  frequently  solicited  to  put  these 
letters  into  a  more  compact,  pennanent,  and 
durable  form,  I  have  at  last  concluded  to  yield  to 
this  oft-repeated  request.  In  thus  submitting 
them,  however,  to  the  judgment  and  candor  of  the 
public,  I  do  so  with  the  feeling  that  my  labors 
will  be  fully  justified  and  amply  rewarded  if  they 
in  any  measure  contribute  to  even  a  partial  solu- 
tion of  the  many  perplexing  problems  that,  in 
common  with  other  nations,  now  beset  this  great 
coimtry. 

Springfield,  Ohio 
December  14,  igi9 


CONTENTS 

PAOB 

The  Principle  of  Organic  Life    ...  3 

Hill  Cities 16 

Agriculture  in  Ancient  and  Modern  Italy  33 

Agricultural  Towns 44 

Ethics  of  Trade  and  Industry    ...  58 

Vice  of  Cities     ......  78 

Money,  Manufacturing,  and  Foreign  Com- 
merce  .......       92 

Trade  Development  of  the  United  States  .     109 

Development  of  Trans- Mississippi  Lands    .     118 

Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities     .         .133 

Agriculture  in  France        .         .         .         .172 

Agriculture  in  the  United  States       .         .     191 

Tariffs        .......     209 


viii  Contents 

PAGE 

Unequal  Development  of  Rural  and  Urban 

Interests      ......     235 

Proportionate  Growth  of  Rural  and  Urban 

Life      .......     258 

The  Reign  of  Chance  ....     278 


Rural  versus  Urban 


III  fares  the  land,  to  hastening  ills  a  prey. 
Where  wealth  accumulates,  and  men  decay; 
Princes  and  lords  may  flourish,  or  may  fade, 
A  breath  can  make  them,  as  a  breath  has  made; 
But  a  bold  peasantry,  their  country's  pride. 
When  once  destroyed,  can  never  be  supplied. 

Goldsmith. 


I 

THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  ORGANIC  LIFE 
San  Remo,  Italy,  April  30,  1910. 

My  Dear  Friend: 

Along  with  others,  your  attention  has  doubtless 
been  engaged  by  the  fierce  budgetary  warfare 
that  is  almost  everywhere  being  waged  among 
the  nations,  with  its  portents  of  possible  serious 
social,  economic,  and  political  disorders.  The 
fact  that  it  exists  similarly  in  many  nations 
widely  divergent  in  racial  characteristics,  cus- 
toms, age,  and  traditions  suggests  an  identity  of 
fundamental  cause  or  causes,  such  as  to  awaken 
the  liveliest  apprehensions  in  the  minds  of  all  who 
view  with  serious  concern  the  welfare  of  their  own 
country,  and  the  integrity  of  its  governmental 
institutions. 

We  will  not  lay  a  needless  levy  upon  your  time 
and  attention  by  the  labored  effort  to  deduce  from 
the  complex  and  involved  factors  of  modern  civic 
and  political  intricacies  any  governing  principle 

3 


4  Rural  versus  Urban 

in  their  varied  relations,  or  seek  to  extract  from 
their  confused  interactions,  as  a  whole,  any  effect 
that  might  be  regarded  as  a  necessary  conse- 
quence of  them.  It  is  sufficient  to  our  present  pur- 
pose to  point  out  the  general  truth  that  nations 
in  their  organic  capacity,  in  respect  of  the  es- 
sential relation  of  their  constituent  parts,  are  like 
all  other  organic  bodies,  and  especially  those  of 
a  corporeal  nature. 

The  principle  of  organic  life  is  in  the  just  corre- 
lation of  integrant  parts,  severally  having  a  due 
and  full  exercise  of  their  special  and  appropriate 
functions.  If  there  be  a  word  possessed  of  such 
force  and  value  as  to  sufficiently  express  a  supreme 
and  universal  law,  is  not  that  word  harmony? 
Wherefore,  as  it  has  been  said,  is  not  harmony  the 
abode  of  virtue  and  discord  that  of  vice?  As  in 
the  state  of  harmony  there  dwells  perpetuity,  sta- 
bility, and  happiness,  so  in  disorder  there  lies  in- 
stability, confusion,  and  imhappiness.  What,  in 
very  essence,  is  harmony  other  than  the  attuned 
relation  of  distinct  parts  forming  a  complete 
whole?  It  being  of  the  nature  of  harmony  that 
it  is  more  fully  attained  in  the  order  wherein  the 
fewest  related  parts  exist,  and  in  a  lessening  degree 
in  correspondence  with  a  greater  multiplicity  of 
such  parts,  it  is  therefore  not  in  the  more  complex 


The  Principle  of  Organic  Life         5 

and  involved,  but  in  the  more  simple  and  uniform 
conditions  of  existence,  considered  as  a  whole,  that 
the  fullest  and  most  permanent  state  of  prosperity, 
contentment,  and  happiness  can  be  realized. 

It  thus  logically  follows  that  when  any  dis- 
cordant action  arises  among  the  component  parts 
of  an  organic  body,  that  special  form  at  once  ceases 
to  exist  and  has,  in  fact,  already  become  another 
and  different  organic  entity.  A  derangement, 
therefore,  in  the  equilibrated  action  of  the  integral 
parts  destroying  that  just  relation  upon  which  the 
integrity  of  an  organism  depends,  may  properly 
be  regarded  as  in  the  nature  of  a  malady  existing 
within  it. 

In  that  corrective  and  conserving  principle 
everywhere  manifest  in  nature's  laws,  this  inhar- 
mony  may  in  time  be  removed  and  the  original 
healthy  state  or  condition  may  ultimately  be  re- 
established, by  restoring  that  accordant  action  be- 
tween the  vital  concurring  members  indispensable 
in  a  stable  and  cohering  whole.  Should  this  dis- 
turbed relation  of  primary  members  indefinitely 
persist,  one  of  two  results  must  inevitably  ensue: 
either  the  final  disintegration  of  the  constituent 
parts  of  the  original  body,  or  a  radical  readjust- 
ment of  them,  creating  thereby  a  new  and  differ- 
ent organic  structure. 


6  Rural  versus  Urban 

It  will  be  obvious  that  all  organisms,  in  virtue 
of  the  conditions  under  which  they  exist,  tend  to- 
wards new  forms;  since  the  most  perfect,  constant, 
and  uniform  interaction  of  their  essential  parts  is 
impossible,  as  each  is  affected  by  the  infinitely 
varied  and  involved  influences  existing  extraneous 
to  and  impressing  the  environed  body.  It  is, 
however,  only  when  these  outward  forces,  in  part 
or  measurably  as  a  whole,  flow  suddenly,  so  to  say, 
with  an  excess  in  time  and  effect  upon  the  en- 
vironed organism  that  there  arises  a  permanent 
derangement  of  its  internal  order,  such  as  to  seri- 
ously endanger  the  long  existing  relation  among 
its  members,  which  constituted  in  essence  its  very 
existence.  Have  we  not  all  in  our  own  personal 
experience  become,  to  our  pain  and  sorrow,  a  sub- 
jective verification  of  the  evil  effects  wrought 
within  ourselves  by  sudden  change,  through  like 
external  changes  operating  upon  the  body?  From 
this  we  believe  it  is  a  fair  inference,  that  all  organic 
bodies  of  whatever  character  are  vitally  endan- 
gered by  sudden  changes,  whether  arising  from 
internal  or  external  sources. 

Why  violent  action  is  inimical  to  a  sound  and 
stable  status  of  a  body  remains  a  mystery  to  be 
solved.  We  all  know  that  a  swiftly  moving  body, 
by  gentle  and  gradual  resistance,  can  be  brought 


The  Principle  of  Organic  Life         7 

to  rest  without  serious  internal  or  external  effects, 
while  to  suddenly  arrest  its  motion,  the  gravest 
commotion  will  follow  as  a  consequence.  Con- 
versely, it  follows  that  the  same  results  would 
ensue  by  an  inverse  application  of  an  impelling 
force  to  a  body  in  repose  sufficient  to  abruptly  im- 
part to  it  a  high  velocity;  and  such  derangement 
of  its  parts  would  be  in  direct  correspondence  with 
the  violence  of  the  impelling  power  and  the  rapid- 
ity of  motion  produced.  In  both  cases  assumed, 
the  resultant  effect  would  vary,  as  that  of  the 
volume  and  suddenness  of  applied  forces,  from 
that  of  a  transient,  unimportant  one  to  a  total 
change  in  their  structural  form. 

Nor  in  this  case  do  the  modern  concepts  of 
dynamics,  which  teaches  us  that  by  the  persistence 
of  force  the  motion  of  the  mass  is  converted  into 
the  equivalent  of  atomic  motion,  advance  us 
appreciably  towards  a  final  concept  as  to  what 
' '  heat,  *  *  * '  motion, "  or  "  matter  "  is  in  essence.  To 
this  end  the  refined  speculations  of  the  disciples  of 
Jules  and  Faraday  bring  us  no  nearer  the  ultimate 
truth  than  the  crude  generalizations  of  the  Eleatic 
or  Lucretian  philosopher.  Before  the  true  nature 
of  a  vacuum  became  known,  the  early  philosopher 
was  content  to  find  an  explanation  of  that  familiar 
phenomenon  in  the  vague  and  insufficient  formula 


8  Rural  versus  Urban 

that  "nattire  abhors  a  vacuiim."  In  like  manner, 
we  may  be  content  for  a  space  to  accept,  as  a 
solution  of  a  cognate  mystery,  the  equally  incom- 
plete explanation  that  nature  abhors  a  sudden 
change,  until  a  more  fundamental  concept  is 
deduced  from  her  laws. 

Yet  there  will  still  remain  the  conspicuous  fact 
that  in  sudden  changes  there  lies  sure  danger,  and 
to  a  degree  varying  with  their  violence.  We  may 
venture  to  afiSrm  that  a  solution  may  be  found  in 
the  principle  of  organic  life  we  have  enunciated, 
since  the  effect  noted  is  not  of  a  substantive,  but 
purely  of  a  relative  nature;  and  it  is  thus  that 
virtue  lies  in  order  and  vice  in  confusion. 

It  must  here  be  particularly  noted,  that  it  is 
bodies  of  a  volitive  nature  that  most  of  all  are 
subject  to  a  serious  disturbance  in  the  harmony 
of  their  composite  parts,  which  we  have  seen  is 
essential  to  its  life.  It  is  evident  that  in  self- 
force,  or  will,  there  lies  the  power  within  the  organ- 
ism itself  to  create  a  change  in  the  correlated 
action  of  its  constituent  parts,  and  this,  too,  in  a 
large  measiire  independent  of  extraneous  causes 
and  forces,  upon  which  its  existence  is  in  a  man- 
ner remotely  dependent.  In  other  words,  such 
organic  bodies  are  self-endowed  with  a  power  to 
create  within  themselves   relations   of  their  in- 


The  Principle  of  Organic  Life         9 

tegral  members,  such  as  are  quite  distinct  from 
those  that  are  the  consequent  result  of  causes 
affecting  these  organisms  not  of  a  voHtive  char- 
acter, and  the  continued  existence  of  which  is  a 
necessity  growing  out  of  the  confluent  action  of 
natural  laws.  It  is  manifest,  therefore,  that  all 
bodies  of  the  former  character  inherently  contain 
the  power  within  themselves  to  determine  those 
vital  relations  of  their  various  members,  such  as 
will  be  productive  of  either  their  good  or  injury. 

While  those  elements  and  forces  which  in  their 
varied  categories  of  social,  financial,  economic,  and 
governmental  life  of  a  nation  are  not  of  a  tangible 
or  corporeal  nature,  they  nevertheless  constitute, 
in  the  aggregate  of  their  relations,  quite  as  definite 
an  organic  whole  as  those  of  a  purely  concrete 
character.  Moreover,  partaking  of  their  funda- 
mental characteristics,  the  integrity  of  its  life  is  in 
like  manner  equally  dependent  upon  maintaining 
a  just  correlation  of  its  composite  parts. 

Of  all  the  forces  and  factors  that  go  to  constitute 
an  organic  national  entity,  the  law-making  power 
is  far  the  most  potent  to  change  the  relation  of  its 
integrant  members.  It  can  even  dissolve  a  long 
and  well-adjusted  status  of  what  may  seem  by 
nature  firmly  correlated  parts,  and  create  a  new 
alignment  of  them.     Herein  we  can  discover  the 


10  Rural  versus  Urban 

origin  of  that  conflict  that  has  ever  subsisted  be- 
tween the  laws  of  nattire  and  the  laws  of  man,  and 
who  can  doubt  what  the  ultimate  issue  of  such  a 
contest  must  ever  be?  The  law-making  power, 
therefore,  possesses  that  most  dangerous  capacity 
which,  through  a  sudden  disturbing  influence,  can 
unsettle  a  long  and  well-adjusted  relation  of  na- 
tional forces,  established  by  the  continuous  and 
equable  operation  of  natural  laws.  Thus  the  law- 
creating  force  in  the  intangible  organism  called  the 
state  stands,  as  respects  the  power  to  disturb  and 
reconstitute  a  new  order  of  its  related  members,  in 
the  same  relation  as  the  volitive  power  in  vital 
concrete  bodies  bears  to  their  related  parts.  Hav- 
ing, therefore,  an  influence  so  all-pervading  and  in 
nature  even  self-destructive  in  its  effects,  how 
necessary  does  it  become  that  it  should  be  wielded 
under  the  truest  and  best  guidance  of  the  mind 
and  heart. 

Alas,  how  often  it  is  otherwise,  prejudice  blind- 
ing the  one,  and  selfishness  deadening  the  other! 
As  the  maintenance  of  a  healthy  action  and  the 
preservation  of  an  organic  body  wholly  depend 
upon  the  accordant  relation  of  its  parts,  it  becomes 
the  prime  duty  and  concern  of  all  to  see  that,  un- 
der specious  forms,  there  may  not  insidiously  enter 
the  germs  of  discord  and  disease  with  their  de- 


The  Principle  of  Organic  Life       ii 

ranging  effects.  However  sincere  the  desire  or 
earnest  the  effort,  the  faUible  and  limited  powers 
of  man  to  forecast  final  results  from  present  con- 
ditions and  causes  often  commit  him  to  acts 
the  ultimate  consequences  of  which  find  neither 
the  endorsement  of  his  reason,  nor  receive  the  ap- 
proval of  his  conscience.  This,  of  necessity,  must 
be  so,  since  in  the  operations  of  human  laws  in 
their  larger  forms  and  wider  scope  even  an  ulti- 
mate, fatal  inharmony  of  national  forces  may  be 
obscured.  Their  final  effects  being  remote,  he  is 
often  betrayed,  by  the  trend  of  immediate  and 
transient  causes  and  effects,  into  an  erroneous  view 
as  to  their  real  nature  and  ultimate  effects,  which 
can  be  clearly  discerned  only  in  the  sum  of  their 
distant  consequences  and  results. 

In  the  legislative  realm  of  the  state,  it  therefore 
becomes  the  highest  duty  of  the  statesman  and 
lawgiver  to  safeguard  each  and  every  interest  of 
the  people  against  a  possible  existence  in  the  laws 
that  regulate  and  control  them,  of  any  principle 
that  may  tend  to  create  an  unbalanced  and  unjust 
relation  among  them.  It  must  be  evident,  that 
no  matter  what  may  seem  to  be  the  beneficent 
effects  of  a  law,  when  viewed  in  the  light  of  their 
immediate  or  proximate  results,  there  neverthe- 
less may  be  contained  in  its  very  spirit  a  subtle 


12  Rural  versus  Urban 

virus  that  may  work,  in  the  end,  an  unjust  and 
fatal  inharmony  among  the  varied  interests 
influenced  by  it. 

No  form  of  legislation  can  work  more  directly,  or 
with  more  fatal  effect,  upon  the  indispensable  ac- 
cord of  the  cardinal  productive  forces  of  a  nation 
than  through  those  laws  which,  in  their  spirit, 
serve  to  create  an  abnormal  condition  of  one  or 
more  of  them,  and  as  a  consequence  cause  a  like 
abnormal  state  also  of  the  others,  as  respects  the 
whole.  It  is  possible  to  enact  laws  that,  in  virtue 
of  their  own  proper  action,  one  industrial  factor 
may  thereby  be  inordinately  enhanced  through  the 
correlative  injury  of  another.  Such  an  imbalanced 
state  of  a  nation's  economic  forces  is  compatible 
neither  with  a  true  prosperity,  nor  with  its 
permanence  as  an  organic  body. 

It  is  by  sudden  and  drastic  changes,  wrought 
through  a  law  in  an  existing  status,  to  which  can 
often  be  ascribed  greater  evil  effects  than  those 
due  to  the  intrinsic  character  of  the  law  itself. 
Thus  a  measure  salutary  in  nature  may  in  itself 
produce  evil  results  through  its  immoderate  and 
inopportune  action  in  point  of  time  and  extent, 
defeating  its  own  proper  purpose  by  engendering 
a  hopeless  confusion  and  aggravating  the  very 
disorder  that  it  might  otherwise  have  ameliorated. 


The  Principles  of  Organic  Life      13 

Hence  the  effort  of  laws,  essentially  just,  to  re- 
lieve and  correct  a  partial  state  of  disorder  may 
thus  create  that  of  a  complete  chaos,  an  im- 
measurable evil;  since  any  condition,  however 
imperfect,  is  to  be  preferred  to  a  chaotic  one. 

Again  we  find  an  analogy  in  the  human  body,  as 
revealed  in  the  immoderate  use  of  remedies,  them- 
selves possessed  of  inherent  virtues.  Instead  of 
removing  the  specific  and  transient  condition  of 
the  body  called  disease  (a  capacity  that  lay  in 
their  moderate  and  judicious  use),  through  an  ex- 
cess of  remedial  influences,  inherently  good,  the 
whole  system  is  often  thrown  into  a  permanent 
state  of  disorder.  It  may  with  much  reason, 
therefore,  be  affirmed  as  a  general  truth  that 
a  principle,  innately  good,  when  inconsiderately 
applied  as  a  corrective  force  may  neutralize  or 
destroy  even  the  virtue  it  contains. 

In  the  enactment  of  measures  of  a  reformatory 
character,  in  order  that  they  may  fully  attain 
their  specific  object  and  purpose,  is  it  not  even 
more  essential  to  consider  the  manner  of  their 
application  to  the  evil  to  be  corrected  than  the 
virtues  that  are  to  be  embodied  in  them? 

Should  we,  therefore,  discover  in  a  social  or  eco- 
nomic body  an  inharmony  of  relation  and  unequal 
action  among  its  component  members,  is  not  the 


14  Rural  versus  Urban 

inference  a  true  one,  that  it  is  the  effect  of  human 
laws,  either  vicious  in  their  intrinsic  nature,  or  of 
just  ones  intemperately  appHed?  This  of  neces- 
sity must  be  true,  for  we  find  that  in  the  conspira- 
tion of  natiure's  laws  they  are  never  other  than  of 
an  accordant  character  and  action,  having  no  es- 
sential tendency  to  produce  a  state  of  inharmony. 

Therefore,  does  it  not  follow  that  an  organic 
body,  thus  deranged  in  its  integral  parts,  can  be 
restored  to  a  normal  state  of  equilibrium  only 
through  eliminating  the  vicious  influence  of  human 
laws,  due  either  to  their  intrinsic  quality,  or  to 
the  intemperate  application  of  those  of  a  salutary 
character,  thus  permitting  the  undisturbed,  free, 
and  full  play  of  those  of  nature  only? 

In  the  derangement  of  a  nation's  affairs 
through  a  conflict  of  man  and  nature,  an  ul- 
timate readjustment  through  natural  causes  be- 
ing inevitable,  is  it  not  the  part  of  wisdom  to  join 
in  willing  accord  our  own  efforts  with  those  of 
nature's  inexorable  methods,  and  by  gentle  re- 
gressive action  restore  harmony,  thereby  averting 
the  violent  shock  that  would  otherwise  be  the 
necessary  result  of  nature's  own  readjusting  pro- 
cesses were  we  to  persist  in  an  attitude  of 
opposition  to  them? 

At  this  point  we  desire  to  crave  your  indulgence 


The  Principle  of  Organic  Life       15 

for  what  may  seem  an  abrupt  and  wide  digression, 
which  we  believe  you  will  the  more  freely  accord, 
when  you  discover  that  it  stands  in  an  inseparable 
relation  to  matters  that  it  is  our  purpose  to 
elaborate  further  on. 


II 

HILL  CITIES 

nPHOSE  who  have  extensively  travelled,  espe- 
-■•  cially  in  the  rural  portions  of  Italy,  cannot 
fail  to  be  impressed  by  a  marked  characteristic  of 
the  country,  almost  from  the  Alps  to  the  extreme 
southern  part  of  the  peninsula.  Everywhere  one 
sees  rising  some  symmetrical  hill,  often  of  pyra- 
midal form,  the  crest  of  which  is  crowned  by  a 
village  or  city  in  a  more  or  less  perfect  condition, 
giving  a  charming  setting  to  the  entire  pictur- 
esque countryside  of  this  delightful  peninsula. 
This  constitutes  such  a  general  peculiarity  through 
the  entire  country  as  to  cause  the  impression  that 
it  may  once  have  been  a  dominant  and  prevail- 
ing characteristic,  having  for  its  origin  some 
fundamental  cause  arising  out  of  the  varied 
wants  of  the  early  inhabitants  that  occupied  the 
mountains  and  valleys  of  ancient  Italy. 

On  closer  study,  one  can  discern  visible  purpose 
and  design  in  what  at  first  view  seemed  merely 
casual  or  fortuitous.     Two  special  features  mark 

l6 


Hill  Cities  17 

the  wide  distribution  of  these  hill  cities.  They 
are  usually  located  on  an  eminence  of  command- 
ing position  and  altitude,  and  of  steepest  acclivity, 
and  always  on  the  limited  space  of  some  sheer  rock 
that  may  chance  to  surmount  the  rugged  simimit. 
This  woidd  justify  the  inference  that  the  location 
of  these  hill  cities  was  primarily  determined  by 
defensive  necessities.  It  can  again  be  noted  that 
with  rare  exceptions  they  are  found  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  a  more  or  less  extended  area  of  fertile  land, 
and  in  greater  frequency  adjacent  to  the  beautiful 
and  rich  valleys  that  traverse  seaward  with  such 
charming  effect  throughout  the  entire  peninsula. 
Moreover,  there  is  sustained  a  close  relation  be- 
tween the  size  and  importance  of  the  hill  cities 
and  the  area  of  the  available  fertile  lands  they 
command. 

In  the  state  of  mankind  succeeding  that  where- 
in Hfe  is  wholly  sustained  by  the  precarious  fruits 
of  the  chase,  the  cultivation  of  land  becomes  their 
one  sole  pursuit. 

As  in  virtue  of  diversity  in  climate  and  other 
physical  conditions  that  prevail  even  in  extreme 
forms  throughout  the  globe,  man  in  his  most 
primitive  state  was  necessarily  distributed  in  a 
multitude  of  more  or  less  dissimilar  races,  tribes, 
or  groups ;  for  it  must  be  considered  that  it  is  the 


1 8  Rural  versus  Urban 

influence  of  his  environing,  climatic,  and  other 
physical  conditions  that  more  than  all  else  forms 
and  shapes  his  specific  ethnological  character.  We 
therefore  find  that  differentiation  of  the  himian 
family  into  those  special  forms  in  direct  corre- 
spondence with  the  degree,  diversity,  and  extent 
of  the  pecuHar  surrounding  physical  influences 
imder  which  he  existed,  and  out  of  which  he 
developed. 

We  are,  therefore,  warranted  in  the  belief  that 
in  those  coimtries  possessed  of  greatest  material 
diversity,  there  would,  in  the  earlier  and  simpler 
state  of  man,  develop  by  natural  process  a  larger 
number  of  special  groups  than  in  those  countries 
where  there  prevail  more  iinif orm  and  homogeneous 
climatic  and  general  physical  conditions. 

Thus  it  is  easy  to  imderstand  that  a  homo- 
geneous people,  such  as  the  Turanian,  occupying 
even  the  small  Grecian  territory  with  its  extreme 
variety  in  physical  composition,  would  in  process 
of  time  dissolve  into  variant  sections  in  harmony 
with  the  many  local  diversities,  and  assimie  special 
characteristics,  which,  while  not  widely  dissimilar 
to  the  parent  stock,  were  sufficiently  discordant 
to  cause  an  irreconcilable  animosity  and  perpetual 
warfare  long  witnessed  among  the  many  Greek 
states  that  developed  from  a  common  progenitor. 


Hill  Cities  19 

In  like  manner,  we  can  see  how  even  a  larger  num- 
ber of  variant  races  and  tribes  might  arise  from 
some  parent  race,  be  it  Siculi,  Oscan,  or  Sabellian, 
that,  as  a  common  ancestor,  may  have  occupied 
and  peopled  the  larger  and  more  diversified 
country  of  ancient  Italy. 

In  considering  the  primitive  agricultural  state 
of  man,  it  would  be  pleasant  to  contemplate  it  as 
one  wherein  each  tiller  of  the  soil,  comprised  in 
the  race  or  tribe,  dwelt  in  peace  and  undisturbed 
security  upon  the  land  he  cultivated  and  which  he 
was  permitted  to  call  his  own.  But  when  we 
refl[ect  upon  the  many  selfish  passions  that  too 
often  awaken  the  energies,  control  the  mind,  and 
debase  the  heart  of  man,  we  must  recognize  that 
this  pleasing  Arcadia  becomes  not  only  the  merest 
Utopia,  but  essentially  impossible. 

Among  the  many  ennobling  qualities  of  heart 
and  mind  that  endow  the  natural  man  and  make 
for  a  higher,  purer,  and  happier  state,  and  by  the 
exercise  of  which  he  gains  strength,  we  find  side 
by  side  also  those  of  equal  worth  that,  in  their 
unguarded  exercise  and  indulgence,  tend  towards 
a  progressive  degeneracy  and  a  more  enthralling 
mercenary  spirit,  thwarting  in  a  measure  our 
sweeter  impulses  and  higher  aspirations.  The 
natural  desire  to  acquire  and  accumulate,  wisely 


20  Rural  versus  Urban 

implanted  in  us  as  a  means  of  self-preservation, 
when  duly  directed  and  controlled,  is  the  most 
powerful  stimulus  given  to  man  for  the  further- 
ance of  his  well-being,  as  well  as  an  incentive 
to  promote  his  true  welfare  and  progress.  When 
given  imrestrained  indulgence,  it  steadily  ripens 
into  an  enthralling  avarice  and  greed,  that  withers 
the  heart  and  corrodes  the  soul. 

This  innate  tendency  towards  the  perversion  of 
a  necessary  and  useful  trait  of  our  nature  is 
manifest  from  the  savage  with  his  needless  store 
of  wampum  to  the  civilized  millionaire  with  his 
surplus  of  weighted  wealth;  and  from  the  child 
with  its  well-stuffed  pockets,  filled  with  a  shining 
though  worthless  hoard,  to  the  money-maddened 
Croesus  with  his  gorged  lockers  of  burdensome 
wealth.  Thus  what  is  salutary  in  its  influence 
when  wisely  limited  and  controlled,  when  relieved 
from  prudent  restraint  develops  into  even  a  pre- 
datory nature,  which  in  its  last  degeneracy  impels 
to  deeds  of  violence  and  conquest,  to  satiate  what 
has  become  a  ruling  passion.  Everywhere  this 
is  disclosed  in  the  efforts  of  the  individual  for  per- 
sonal gain  at  the  expense  and  at  times  ruin  of  an- 
other, and  of  nations  to  wrest  through  violence 
of  .war  the  coveted  wealth  of  their  neighbors. 

The   most  powerful  impulse,  no    doubt,  that 


Hill  Cities  21 

moves  a  people  is  the  desire  to  possess  themselves 
of  fertile  lands.  Nor  can  this  be  a  cause  for  wonder, 
since  it  is  the  basic  necessity  of  mankind.  More- 
over, in  this  vast  and  noble  resource — the  greatest 
possessed  by  man — there  lies  not  only  the  poten- 
tiality of  gratifying  all  his  necessary  wants  and 
desires,  but  also,  if  need  be,  all  forms  of  avarice 
and  greed  that  may  serve  in  a  measure  to  appease 
this  insatiate  and  sordid  mania. 

Despite  all  the  claims  of  a  possible  attainment 
otherwise,  to  a  general  state  of  higher  culture, 
luxury,  and  ease,  it  remains  a  stubborn  fact  that 
all  the  necessities  and  desires  of  civilized  mankind 
depend  primarily  for  their  supply  and  gratifica- 
tion upon  the  rather  prosaic  labor  and  energy 
directed  to  the  soil,  which  of  necessity  must  ever 
engage  the  far  largest  portion  of  the  people.  No 
matter  how  we  may  yearn  for,  or  how  needful  we 
may  deem  to  be,  a  higher  culture  and  refinement 
for  our  happiness,  we  must  face  the  commonplace 
fact  that  we  have  first  to  provide  the  means  for 
our  bodily  wants  and  existence  before  we  can 
consider  the  manner  of  it.  As  at  present  condi- 
tioned, man  seems  hopelessly  fated  to  meet  this 
prime  necessity  only  by  his  unsentimental  efforts 
and  labor  to  wrest  this  means  from  the  soil.  It 
is  upon  this  that   all   human  activities  directly 


22  Rural  versus  Urban 

rest.  I  believe  you  will  agree  with  me  that  it 
is  first  in  order  that  we  create  and  preserve  our 
senses  before  we  consider  the  matter  of  gratifying 
them,  for  in  their  true  order  does  not  the  de- 
mand of  necessities  come  before  that  of  luxuries? 

Unfortunately,  the  human  race  has  no  further 
arrived  than  yet  to  vulgarly  and  laboriously  ex- 
tract from  the  land  the  coarse  equivalent  of 
sentiment  and  culture,  and  it  is  thus  that  the 
man  behind  the  counter  in  a  city  bazaar  is  not 
the  man  of  prime  importance,  for  he  is  preceded 
by  the  man  behind  the  hoe  in  the  country.  Is  it 
not  evident,  therefore,  that  the  butcher  and  the 
baker  are  in  advance  of  the  artist  and  the 
tailor? 

The  important  areas  of  fertile  lands  in  the  val- 
leys and  on  the  mountain-sides  were  no  doubt  in 
primitive  times  the  attractive  force  that  drew  the 
early  races  thither.  Doubtless,  in  due  time,  by  a 
natural  process  of  segregation,  these  lands  fell 
under  the  control  of  more  or  less  defined  groups, 
and  possibly  fragments  of  an  anterior  disintegrated 
race.  In  a  congeries  of  resultant  and  contiguous 
tribes,  widely  extended,  marked  by  dissimilar 
traits,  a  common  racial  affinity  no  longer  exercis- 
ing a  pacific  influence,  each  tribe,  moved  by 
a   common   and   mutual   avarice   or   a   spirit   of 


Hill  Cities  23 

adventure,  was  ever  ready  to  encroach  upon  the 
territory  of  another. 

Thus,  throughout  this  vast  mosaic  of  militant 
tribes  and  races  that  covered  Italy  in  early — even 
prehistoric — times,  there  existed  a  continuous 
state  of  suspended  hostilities.  Indeed,  such  ac- 
counts as  have  descended  to  us  through  the  ob- 
scure medium  of  fable,  legend,  and  tradition,  of 
the  early  tribes  that  spread  over  Italy,  are 
but  records  of  incessant  warfare  among  them. 
These  communities  or  tribes  arising  sponta- 
neously, or  dissolved  from  whatever  cause  from 
a  parent  stock,  adopted  forms  of  government 
singularly  similar  in  character  fiurther  suggesting 
a  remote  and  identical  origin.  They  were  aris- 
tocratic, often  republican,  and  rarely  of  a  kingly 
nature.  The  favorite  form  was  to  entrust  the 
functions  of  government  to  a  select  council  of 
elders,  probably  drawn  from  the  body  of  the 
tribe,  for  age,  wisdom,  or  experience,  or  perhaps 
for  superior  martial  ability,  so  essential  and  justly 
admired  among  all  primitive  races. 

The  ingrained,  aggressive  spirit  of  all  early 
agricultural  and  pastoral  peoples,  ever  stimulated 
by  either  an  internal  pressure  of  population  or  a 
desire  to  encroach  upon  near  neighbors,  or,  as 
often  occurred,  a  mere  spirit   of  adventure  and 


24  Rural  versus  Urban 

conquest,  put  upon  them  alike  the  necessity  of  a 
thorough  defence  against  their  mutual  tendencies 
to  violate  their  respective  rights.  As  the  most 
desirable  and  fertile  lands  lie  in  the  valleys,  and 
the  less  valued  on  the  forest-covered  hill  and  moun- 
tainside, it  was  therefore  in  the  valleys  that  lay 
the  point  of  contact  and  scenes  of  conflict  that 
ever  existed  between  them,  and  in  which  their 
predatory  warfare  was  mostly  maintained  and 
confined. 

In  the  issue  of  a  battle,  however  decisive  or 
complete,  there  is  left  in  the  defeated  party  an 
unconquered  remnant,  which  seeks  in  flight  some 
haven  of  safety.  Out  of  this  possible  necessity 
there  grew  the  fortified  hill-tops,  the  remains  of 
which  even  to  this  day  constitute  for  the  traveller 
an  attraction  in  rural  Italy.  It  formed  at  once  the 
most  natural  and  effective  protection  not  only  of 
a  defeated  army,  but  also  of  the  agricultural 
laborers  that  were  driven  from  their  fields  by  the 
invading  enemy. 

In  this  protective  aegis  of  the  cities  over  agricul- 
ture in  early  times,  might  not  we  trace  the  rudi- 
ments of  that  patronizing  and  protective  air  so 
often  assumed  in  these  days  by  the  inhabitants  of 
the  cities  towards  those  of  the  country? 

How  effective  was  this  defence  of  even  an  in- 


Hill  Cities  25 

significant  community  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
the  great  Hannibal,  invincible  on  the  plains  of 
Italy,  was  forced  to  abandon  his  efforts  against 
the  little  town  of  Foligno,  secure  within  her  pro- 
tective walls  upon  the  summit  of  a  commanding 
hill.  The  city  of  Capua  provides  another  notable 
instance  of,  or  rather  the  want  of,  this  protective 
power.  It  was  located  in  the  plains  and  was  the 
capital  of  Campania,  one  of  the  most  extensive 
and  fertile  sections  of  Italy.  Possessed  of  much 
wealth  and  many  resources,  it  fell  an  easy  prey 
to  the  hardy  mountaineers  of  Samnium,  and  later 
under  the  remorseless  grasp  of  the  Romans,  who 
themselves  were  steadily  repulsed  for  nearly  two 
centuries  by  the  same  hill-dwelling  Samnites. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  original  influ- 
ences that  caused  the  diffusion  of  the  people 
throughout  the  limited  area  of  lands  occupied  by 
them,  there  soon  arose  the  necessity  in  peace,  as 
well  as  in  war,  to  provide  ample  means  of  security 
for  the  entire  population  against  the  many  as- 
saults and  surprises  from  which  they  were  ever  in 
danger.  No  retreat  could  afford  more  complete 
protection  than  that  of  a  summit  of  a  ridge  or  hill 
enclosed  within  the  compass  of  protecting  walls. 
Thus  it  was  that  the  apex  of  some  chosen  hill  was 
encircled  by  a  defending  fortification  or  wall ;  and 


26  Rural  versus  Urban 

such  is  the  force  of  custom  growing  out  of  a  once 
fundamental  necessity,  that  even  to  this  day  it  is 
common  to  see  hill  towns  enclosed  by  walls,  and 
occupied  by  all  the  tillers  of  the  soil  in  the  adjacent 
valley,  to  which  they  retire  at  nightfall,  and  which 
vaguely  marks  the  limits  of  the  land  once  occupied 
by  some  tribe  or  community  long  since  extinct. 

This  ancient  though  natural  mode  of  protecting 
the  rights  and  securing  the  safety  of  a  rural  peo- 
ple is  not  confined  to  special  nations,  but  seems 
to  have  spontaneously,  as  if  by  an  inherent  neces- 
sity, arisen  in  all  countries  where  rural  occupa- 
tions were  paramount.  Nor  does  this  essential 
need  seem  to  be  confined  to  a  mountainous  coun- 
try, for  it  is  a  feature  reflected  in  the  less  effect- 
ively protecting  auls,  or  groups  of  tents,  scattered 
throughout  the  wide  plains  of  Tartary. 

Everywhere  in  Scotland  and  in  Ireland  are 
noted  the  numerous  remains  of  strong  and  ample 
castles  that  in  ancient  times  supplied  in  sudden 
and  extreme  emergencies  a  safe,  though  tempo- 
rary, retreat  for  the  meagre  population  that 
under  their  shadow  found  some  security  in  the 
cultivation  of  the  narrow  border  of  land  in  the 
valley  below. 

It  was  this  presence  of  a  perpetual  menace  and 
imminence  of  war  that  caused  the  primitive  tribes 


Hill  Cities  27 

and  races  to  divide  their  people  into  more  or  less 
defined  classes,  of  the  civil  and  military.  The 
first  was  composed  of  all  those  incapable  of  bear- 
ing arms,  and  the  second  comprised  all  that  were 
capable  of  rendering  military  service  to  the  com- 
munity. Yet  in  the  early  days  of  Rome,  as  well 
as  in  the  other  cities  of  Italy,  this  military  class  was 
not  of  an  exclusive  or  fixed  order,  since  the  pro- 
fession of  arms  was  always  joined  with  the  pur- 
suit of  agriculture  in  times  of  peace,  and  it  was 
usually  in  defence  of  their  farms  that  in  their 
earlier  days  they  went  to  war. 

This  division  of  a  nation  into  fixed  orders  of 
civil  and  military  can  arise  from  three  causes  only : 
where  there  has  developed  a  spirit  of  advent- 
ure, conquest,  and  aggression;  where  there  has 
grown  up  a  permanent  derangement  of  its  in- 
ternal, political,  civil,  and  industrial  forces;  or, 
which  is  the  more  usual  one,  that  of  maintaining 
the  security  of  an  unduly  extended  circumfer- 
ence and  border  by  an  unwise  expansion  of  the 
national  domain  against  the  assaults  of  circum- 
jacent races. 

It  is  an  inherent  necessity  of  a  purely  pastoral 
people  that  a  separate  military  order  be  constantly 
maintained.  The  Tartar  race  was,  perhaps,  the 
most  conspicuous  example  of  this  free  distribution 


28  Rural  versus  Urban 

of  its  people  into  well-defined  and  exclusive  mili- 
tary and  civil  classes.  The  entire  able-bodied  ele- 
ment of  the  race  was  consigned  to  the  sole 
profession  of  arms,  and  it  was  left  to  the  remain- 
ing section  of  the  people  to  provide  for  the  wants 
of  the  whole  nation,  including  the  military  class. 
Being  left  to  the  exclusive  exercise  of  arms  and 
the  kindred  amusements  of  the  chase,  the  military 
element  naturally  developed  such  proficiency  in 
all  the  essentials  of  war,  as  to  make  them  the 
most  formidable  and  invincible  warriors  the 
world  has  yet  seen. 

In  the  city  of  Rome,  after  the  passing  of  her 
purely  defensive  stage,  the  continued  internal 
and  external  necessities  caused  a  gradual  change 
in  her  military  system,  from  that  of  a  transient 
and  unpaid  peasant  soldiery,  subject  to  the  call 
of  a  consul,  to  that  of  a  paid  and  permanent  one 
under  the  command  of  a  general.  This  became 
an  ever-increasing  menace  to  the  institutions  and 
liberties  of  the  commonwealth,  and  ultimately 
brought  the  empire. 

While  inquiry  as  to  the  number  and  population 
of  the  hni  cities  that  were  interspersed  through 
the  peninsula  of  Italy  can  bring  but  indefinite 
results  from  the  slender  historical  data  at  com- 
mand, it  may,  however,  serve  to  form  in  some 


Hill  Cities  29 

measure  a  definite  idea,  not  only  as  to  the  number 
of  cities,  but  as  to  the  Hfe-sustaining  capacity  of 
agriculture  throughout  the  peninsula  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Roman  era. 

In  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century  B.C.,  at  the 
time  of  the  regifugium,  or  banishment  of  the  last 
of  the  kings,  the  territory  of  Latium  comprised 
less  than  2000  square  miles,  or  about  equal  to  the 
area  of  the  State  of  Delaware,  whose  population 
at  present  is  180,000.  With  Latium  and  its  con- 
federated states  and  cities,  Rome  had  formed  a 
league  under  the  last  of  her  ruling  kings. 

Now  in  referring  to  the  attempt  to  restore  the 
exiled  king,  the  ancient  historian  definitely  says 
that  the  thirty  Latium  cities  seceded  from  the 
league,  declaring  war  upon  Rome  in  furtherance 
of  the  attempt  to  restore  Tarquin  to  his  throne. 
This,  it  will  be  seen,  gives  something  over  sixty 
square  miles  of  territory  as  an  average  to  the  cities 
of  that  country.  Applying  this  standard,  there 
must  have  been  at  that  time  in  the  Italian  terri- 
tory south  of  the  Apennines  from  six  to  eight 
hundred  cities  of  the  size  equal  to  those  in 
Latium,  whatever  that  may  have  been. 

In  this  connection  it  must  be  considered  that 
the  Roman  domain  embraced  the  rich  valley  of 
the   Tiber,    the   fairest   portion    of    the    region, 


30  Rural  versus  Urban 

leaving  as  a  residue  the  less  fertile  and  more  hilly 
portion  of  that  territory. 

As  to  the  population  of  the  respective  cities  of 
Latium,  this  must  be  left  to  iaference  drawn  from 
the  large  armies  she  put  into  the  field,  and  the 
long  and  stubborn  resistance  of  her  cities  to  the 
powerful  assaults  of  Rome. 

It  must  further  be  observed  that  at  this  time 
the  states  of  this  part  of  Italy  had  little,  if  any, 
foreign  commerce  or  trade,  and  therefore  for  the 
support  of  their  population  they  had  to  rely  al- 
most wholly  on  the  products  of  domestic  agri- 
culture. Whatever  their  population  may  have 
been,  there  seems  no  good  reason  to  believe  that 
it  was  much  inferior,  if  any,  to  that  of  the 
same  territory  to-day,  or  to  that  of  any  country 
of  the  same  character  that  relies  wholly  upon 
its  agric\ilture,  and  is  not  augmented  by  foreign 
intercourse  and  traffic. 

In  the  division  of  labor  and  its  products  through 
the  natural  operation  of  internal  productive 
forces  in  a  community  wholly  agricultural  and 
pastoral,  such  as  existed  in  Italy  at  that  or  even 
pre-Roman  times,  though  drawn  together  solely 
by  protective  necessities,  the  vastly  greater  part, 
as  in  nations  of  to-day,  must  be  set  down  to  the 
credit  of  its  rural  portion. 


Hill  Cities  31 

In  the  entire  body  of  labor  of  the  community  of 
which  the  hill  city  was  the  centre,  it  may  be  as- 
sumed that  there  arose  in  due  time  such  specialized 
forms  in  its  total  productive  energies  as  would  tend 
to  yield  the  largest  aggregate  benefits  to  the 
whole  body  of  the  people.  The  articles  necessary 
to  the  household  and  the  operations  in  the  field 
were  no  doubt  produced  by  a  small  section  of  the 
labor  of  the  cities,  under  the  advantages  of  a 
rudely  specialized  adaptation  of  labor,  together 
with  that  of  the  agriculturists  themselves,  in  the 
intervals  of  leisure  that  often  came  to  them  from 
the  many  intermissions  of  their  labor  in  the  field. 

Either  or  both  of  these  productive  methods  in- 
sured the  full  and  complete  occupation  of  the  time 
and  energies  of  all  the  people,  yielding  the  highest 
useful  restilts  of  their  collective  labor.  The  full 
occupation  of  the  whole  commimity  in  useful  pur- 
suits preserved  them  against  the  tendency  to  vice 
that  ever  attends  leistire  and  idleness,  or  a  par- 
tially employed  state,  for  it  is  truly  said  that  it 
is  idle  hands  that  find  evil  things  to  do. 

We  are  aware  that  you  may  reply  that  increased 
leisure  gives  increased  opportunity  for  greater  in- 
dividual improvement  and  advancement.  But 
are  we  really  prepared,  even  in  these  times,  to 
affirm  that  in  the  totality  of  leisure's  benefits 


32  Rural  versus  Urban 

secured  by  the  quick  methods  and  short  cuts  of 
modem  civiHzation,  there  is  not  already  a  greater 
admixture  of  evil  than  of  good?  For  is  it  a  fact, 
that  leisure  is  more  occupied  these  days  with  what 
is  useful  and  beneficial  than  what  is  useless  and 
even  injurious? 


Ill 

AGRICULTURE  IN  ANCIENT  AND 
MODERN   ITALY 

nPHIS  natural  division  and  distribution  of  labor 
^  in  primitive  communities,  undisturbed  by 
artificial  aid  and  extraneous  influences,  by  direct- 
ing the  larger  portion  of  its  energies  to  the  soil, 
enabled  them  to  sustain  from  the  same  area  of 
land  a  greater  number  of  people  than  now,  where 
the  more  improved  methods  are  employed  with 
their  by-product  of  useless  leisure  and  idleness. 
This  view  is  sustained  by  observation  in  Italy 
to-day,  as  everywhere  one  can  discover  the  won- 
drous products  of  the  husbandmen,  both  as  to 
their  quantity  as  well  as  quality.  And  this,  too, 
upon  lands  that  have  been  tilled  for  thirty  centu- 
ries, and  also  without  those  aids  which  in  our  own 
country  are  regarded  as  indispensable  to  the  high- 
est and  best  culture.  In  Italy,  one  rarely  hears 
the  merry  clatter  of  the  reaper  or  sees  the  glint  of 
a  steel  ploughshare,  for  the  sickle  and  the  scythe 
almost  imiversally  perform  their  ancient  function, 
and  the  furrow  is  turned  by  much  the  same  plough 

3  33 


34  Rural  versus  Urban 

made  and  used  by  the  hand  of  the  great  Cin- 
cinnatus.  Indeed,  a  not  inconsiderable  part  of  the 
land  is  even  now  turned  by  the  spade  or  the  two- 
pronged  hoe  of  ancient  usage ;  and  quite  the  same 
methods  are  practised  that  were  so  well  sung 
by  Hesiod  and  Virgil.  Nor  do  the  highest  re- 
sults of  husbandry,  such  as  in  skilled  China  and 
other  countries  where  primitive  methods  are  in 
vogue,  seem  compatible  with  the  disuse  of  methods 
and  appliances  long  and  well  tried,  and  that  are 
so  roundly  decried  by  the  disciples  of  modem 
progress  and  reckless  change. 

But,  you  may  ask,  what  of  the  marvellous  in- 
crease in  the  products  of  agriculture  witnessed  in 
the  world  in  the  last  half-century ;  does  it  not  show 
the  magic  of  modem  science  and  art  to  in- 
crease the  life-sustaining  power  of  the  soil?  In  an- 
swer, it  may  be  said  that  we  have  merely  ascribed  to 
the  direct  influence  of  art  and  science  the  credit  of 
what,  in  reality,  indirectly  arises  out  of  the  power 
of  the  railway  and  steamship  to  render  available, 
for  the  uses  of  man,  the  long  unavailable,  stored- 
up,  and  accumulated  treasures  of  the  soil  in 
remote  and  hitherto  inaccessible  lands,  which 
has  been  confounded  with  a  greater  advance  in 
the  art  of  husbandry.  That  the  ancients  were 
enabled  to  produce  cereal  crops  by  their  simple 


Agriculture  in  Ancient  Italy         35 

primitive  methods  and  means  that  would  stagger 
the  modem  agriculturist,  equipped  with  his  multi- 
form mechanical  miracle  workers,  is  shown  by  the 
statement  of  Herodotus  and  Plinius,  that  in  the 
valley  of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  and  in  Syria, 
they  produced  crops  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  fold. 
Even  in  our  own  country  and  age,  so  richly  en- 
dowed by  nature  and  so  bounteously  aided  by 
art,  such  results  would  be  the  despair  of  the 
husbandman. 

In  the  comparative  estimates  we  have  made  of 
the  population  that  could  be  sustained  in  differ- 
ent times  and  countries,  it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind 
that  in  virtue  of  the  simpler  and  more  frugal  life 
of  a  primitive  people,  such  as  those  of  ancient 
Italy,  not  only  a  larger  proportion  of  the  total 
labor  of  a  community  could  be  directed  to  the 
culture  of  the  land,  but  a  greater  part  of  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  individual  was  left  for  the  general 
sustenance  than  in  the  more  complex,  artificial, 
and  luxurious  life  of  modem  times.  Our  conten- 
tion is  well  sustained  by  the  population  of 
ancient  Greece,  especially  of  the  Attic  and  La- 
conian  states,  though  not  so  richly  endowed  as 
Italy,  and  where  the  high  repute  and  condition  of 
agricultural  pursuits,  even  in  the  heroic  age,  be- 
came the  constant  theme  of  the  great  poet  of  Ascra. 


36  Rural  versus  Urban 

In  this  connection,  it  must  be  taken  into  ac- 
count that  in  ancient  times  Italy  was  held  to  be 
the  most  fortunate  of  countries  in  respect  of  its 
richness  of  soil,  exuberance  and  variety  of  rural 
products,  as  well  as  its  pleasing  diversity  of 
scenery  and  salubrious  climate. 
An  ancient  Greek  historian  says  of  Italy: 
"I  look  upon  that  country  as  the  best,  which 
is  the  most  self-sufficient,  and  generally  stands 
least  in  need  of  foreign  commodities.  Now  I  am 
persuaded  that  Italy  enjoys  this  universal  fer- 
tility, and  plenty  of  everything  useful  beyond  any 
other  coimtry  in  the  world.  For  it  contains 
a  great  deal  of  arable  land,  without  wanting  wood 
like  a  com  country;  on  the  other  side,  the  soil  is 
proper  for  all  sorts  of  trees  without  being  reduced 
to  a  scarcity  of  com,  like  a  wood-land,  or  by  yield- 
ing plenty  of  both,  rendered  unfit  for  pasture. 
Neither  can  it  be  said  that  it  is  rich  in  com,  wood, 
and  pasture,  yet  unpleasant  to  live  in;  but 
aboiinds,  as  I  may  say,  in  all  sorts  of  delights  and 
advantages.  To  what  country,  watered  not  with 
rivers,  but  with  rains  from  Heaven,  do  the  plains 
of  Campania  yield ;  in  which  I  have  seen  land  that 
bears  even  three  crops  in  a  year,  bringing  suc- 
cessively to  perfection  the  winter,  summer,  and 
autumnal    grain?     To    what    olive-grounds    are 


Agriculture  in  Ancient  Italy         37 

those  of  the  Mesapii,  the  Daunii,  the  Sabines,  and 
many  others,  inferior?  To  what  vineyards,  those 
of  Tyrrhenia,  Alba,  and  Falemus,  where  the  soil 
is  wonderfully  kind  to  vines,  and  with  the  least 
labor  produces  plenty  of  the  finest  grapes?  Be- 
sides the  land  that  is  cultivated,  Italy  abounds  in 
pastures  for  sheep  and  goats;  yet  more  extensive 
and  more  wonderful  are  those  that  are  assigned 
to  horses  and  neat  cattle. 

"There  are  mines  of  all  sorts,  plenty  of  wild 
beasts  for  hunting,  and  a  variety  of  sea-fish;  be- 
sides innumerable  other  things,  some  useful,  and 
others  worthy  of  admiration:  but  the  most  ad- 
vantageous of  all,  is  the  happy  temper  of  the 
air,  suiting  itself  to  every  season;  so  that  neither 
the  formation  of  fruits,  nor  the  constitution  of 
animals,  are  in  the  least  injured  by  excessive  cold 
or  heat.  It  is  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  the 
ancients  looked  upon  this  coiuitry  as  consecrated 
to  Saturn,  since  they  esteemed  this  god  to  be  the 
giver  and  accompHsher  of  all  happiness." 

All  this  must  lead  to  the  belief  that  in  far-off 
pre-Roman  and  perhaps  pre-historic  times,  Italy 
had  reached  such  a  state  of  material  prosperity, 
culture,  and  fulness  of  life,  as  to  awaken  the  envy 
of  the  covetous  and  prosperous  Greek.  There 
seems  good  reason  to  suppose  that  the  penin- 


38  Rural  versus  Urban 

sula  of  Italy  was  permeated  with  the  higher 
civilization  of  the  nations  less  than  a  day's  sail 
from  her  own  shores,  and  whose  argosies  famil- 
iarly dotted  the  ocean  even  under  the  shadow  of 
the  Pillars  of  Hercules.  In  fact,  many  of  the  laws, 
customs,  and  manners  of  Rome  were  derived  from 
the  Latin  cities  which  were  themselves  colonies 
of  Lacedemonia.  Is  not  the  belief,  therefore, 
fairly  justified  that  in  the  peninsula  of  Italy,  a 
population  could,  nay,  did  exist  in  early  times,  far 
in  excess  of  what  we  in  modem  times  believe 
to  have  been  possible,  and  distributed  in  num- 
erous, and  somewhat  dissimilar,  tribes  and 
communities? 

The  question  thus  arises  as  to  whether  Rome, 
even  with  the  aid  of  the  gods,  grew  out  of  the 
integration  of  crude  primal  units,  or  the  gather- 
ing together  of  the  scattered  fragments  of  a  once 
powerful,  all-encompassing  nation  long  gone  to 
decay.  Indeed,  Rome  herself  supplies  a  close 
analogy  in  the  completed  cycle  of  her  life;  for, 
in  the  dissolution  of  her  world-wide  fabric  of 
dominance,  the  earth  was  for  centuries  strewn 
with  the  debris  of  her  scattered  members, — the 
process  of  collecting,  appropriating,  and  recon- 
structing of  which  is  even  yet  going  on  among 
the  nations. 


Agriculture  in  Ancient  Italy        39 

Following  this  reflection,  may  we  not  even  now 
discern  in  the  great  medley  of  incoherent  tribes  and 
races  of  Hindustan,  the  fragments  of  a  once  wide- 
spread and  coherent  Aryan  power,  that  may  again 
be  formed  into  a  homogeneous  body,  only  in  the 
fulness  of  time  once  more  to  dissolve  into  separate 
and  warring  elements?  Similarly,  might  not  the 
oft-repeated  and  unavailing  attempts  of  Greece 
to  affiliate  her  militant  states  have  in  fact  been 
efforts  to  reunite  the  fragments  of  a  once  over- 
shadowing Turanian  power?  In  these  and  many 
like  examples  there  is  revealed  faint  glimpses  of  a 
ruthless  evolution,  the  disintegrating  and  rein- 
tegrating forces  of  which  carry  all  things  infinitely 
onward  through  an  ever-recurring  series  of  endless 
change. 

Thus  as  respects  early  Italian  annals,  if  there 
be  a  valid  historical  datum,  it  is  that  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Roman  era  there  were  dispersed 
throughout  that  country  in  a  more  or  less  diffused 
state,  even  beyond  the  Apennines,  into  the  foot- 
hills adjacent  to  the  rich  valley  of  the  Po,  a  multi- 
tude of  hill  cities,  with  their  attendant  rural 
element,  like  in  all  essentials  to  Rome  itself  in  its 
early  days.  There  are,  however,  no  definite  an- 
nals from  which  can  be  deduced  either  the  actual 
or  relative  size  of  these  cities,  or  their  order  of 


40  Rural  versus  Urban 

distribution  throughout  the  various  and  varied 
regions  of  Italy. 

As  has  been  noted,  there  are  many  remains 
of  cities  scattered  throughout  the  country,  that 
mark  in  some  definite  manner  their  character  and 
extent,  from  which  can  be  deduced  with  some 
degree  of  precision  the  number  of  inhabitants  they 
contained,  and  the  measure  of  enUghtenment  to 
which  they  attained.  Adding  the  authentic  rela- 
tions that  Rome  bore  to  these  extinct  cities  and 
the  internal  evidence  also  that  she  herself  sup- 
plied, we  become  possessed  of  much  that  will  tend 
to  throw  light  on  many  obscure  pages  of  early 
Italian  history,  which  will  strengthen  the  con- 
viction that  the  appearance  of  Rome  among  the 
numerous  family  of  tribes  and  cities,  already  ex- 
isting throughout  Italy,  brought  little  that  was 
new  in  the  varied  categories  of  life  and  human 
experience  already  familiar  to  them.  This  view 
receives  support  from  the  fact  that  despite  her  in- 
cessant warlike  efforts  to  acquire  territory,  at  the 
end  of  two  and  one  half  centuries  of  her  existence 
she  still  remained  one  of  the  smallest  of  the  states 
of  Latium,  and  at  the  end  of  her  third  century, 
quite  as  easily  as  other  neighboring  cities,  fell 
before  the  devasting  scourge  of  the  savage  Gallic 
horde,  that  swept  with  such  destructive  fury  from 


Agriculture  in  Modern  Italy         41 

the  north  throughout  this  fair  and  well  peopled 
peninsula. 

As  bearing  upon  the  general  and  essential  re- 
lation of  agriculture  to  cities,  it  is  most  important 
to  note  the  rigid  limitations  of  it  in  those  condi- 
tions where  it  can  be  carried  on  only  under  the 
defensive  protection  established  by  the  assemblage 
of  its  members  in  a  fortified  hill  city  or  town. 
These  limits  are  determined  first,  by  the  pacific 
nature  of  the  contiguous  tribes  that  will  fix  the 
extreme  limits  to  which  the  uncertain  and  pre- 
carious occupation  of  the  lands  can  be  carried; 
and  second,  the  distance  from  the  protective 
centre  that  agricultural  operations  can  as  a  prac- 
tical problem  be  exercised.  It  must  therefore  be 
evident  that  for  a  city  state  to  carry  its  influence 
and  domain  beyond  those  elementary  and  im- 
passable limits,  it  is  essential  to  rely  wholly  upon 
conquest  as  the  effective  means. 

Where  a  city  state  can  develop  a  superior  and 
ascendant  central  military  power,  it  gradually  ex- 
tends, if  not  its  complete  sovereignty,  at  least  its 
suzerainty,  over  the  kindred  hill  cities  and  com- 
munities that  indefinitely  surround  it.  When 
this  is  accomplished,  those  cities  that  fall  within 
the  sphere  of  its  influence,  no  longer  stand  in  need 
of   the   protective   and   defensive   necessities   by 


42  Rural  versus  Urban 

which  they  preserved  their  individuality,  for  this 
is  now  more  effectively  supplied  by  the  power  and 
resources  of  the  central  city  state.  This  is  briefly 
giving  the  main  causes  of  the  rise  and  the  chief 
means  by  which  Rome  ultimately  acquired  domin- 
ion of  the  world.  To  remove  that  incubus  of 
self-defence  that  existed,  as  a  prime  necessity, 
in  each  and  all  hill  towns  and  communities,  with 
its  great  burdens  upon  the  agricultural  element, 
brought  such  relief  from  embarrassing  restraints 
upon  the  whole  community  as  greatly  increased 
their  useful  productive  activities,  since  they  be- 
came free  to  direct  all  their  energies  wholly  to 
civil  and  industrial  affairs. 

This  manifest  blessing  brought  by  Rome  to  the 
ever  militant  tribes,  towns,  and  cities  of  Italy 
stands  to  her  credit  as  her  one  bright  virtue,  and 
goes  far  to  palliate  the  hideous  wrongs  and  cruel- 
ties she  inflicted  sometimes  at  home,  and  always 
upon  foreign  nations.  I  will  not  weary  you 
with  idle,  perhaps  groundless,  speculations  as  to 
whether  the  building  up  of  such  a  power  possess- 
ing the  element  of  permanence  can  be  achieved 
in  any  other  manner  than  by  weaving  together 
into  a  measurably  homogeneous  body  locally  » 
self-developed  and  self -existent  agricultural  com- 
munities such   as  we  have  described.     But  it  is 


Agriculture  in  Modern  Italy         43 

sufficiently  evident  that  it  was  by  skilfully  gather- 
ing together  a  multitude  of  these  units  scattered 
throughout  Italy,  under  a  policy  so  broad  and 
fundamental  as  to  make  it  preferable  for  each  to 
remain  an  integral  part  of  a  great  whole,  rather 
than  by  attempting  to  maintain  an  imcertain  and 
precarious  individual  existence,  that  gave  such 
solidarity  and  stability  to  the  Roman  common- 
wealth. This  policy  continued  unimpaired  for 
several  centuries,  giving  that  impulse  which 
ended  only  with  the  world's  conquest,  when  the 
interests  of  the  citizens  of  Rome  were  made 
paramount  to  that  of  all  others. 


IV 

AGRICULTURAL  TOWNS 

TJAVING  heretofore  considered  the  collection 
of  agricultural  units  into  fortified  towns  and 
cities,  when  moved  wholly  by  protective  neces- 
sities, we  will  now  consider  those  forces  which 
operate  to  naturally  draw  them  towards  the  con- 
centrated form  of  villages  and  towns,  in  which 
form  not  only  its  highest  condition  can  be  realized, 
but  through  which  alone  a  just  order  and  stability 
of  the  state  can  be  preserved. 

The  primary  differentiation  of  the  whole  body 
of  complex  productive  forces  and  energies  em- 
bodied in  the  purely  agricultural  and  rural  state 
of  mankind  into  special  forms  and  groups  is 
both  natural  and  definite.  They  resolve  them- 
selves into  two  special  classes:  first,  those  that  in 
nature  are  essentially  agricultural;  and  second, 
those  that  are  subsidiary  to  and  arise  wholly  out 
of  the  former. 

It  is  manifest  that  there  is  a  wide  difference  in 

44 


Agricultural  Towns  45 

the  nature  of  that  labor  immediately  applied  to 
and  directly  causing  the  soil  to  yield  its  sus- 
tenance to  man,  and  that  essential  to  create  those 
appliances  in  the  appropriate  use  of  which  they  be- 
come indirect  aids  in  performing  that  labor.  Thus 
there  is  a  distinct  and  essential  difference  in  the 
nature  of  the  labor  necessary  to  make  the  hoe, 
and  the  labor  in  the  use  of  the  hoe  in  performing 
its  intended  function.  It  is  evident,  also,  that 
there  similarly  exists  a  like  difference  in  the  labor, 
appliances,  and  operations  of  the  household,  which 
are  subsidiary  to  the  purely  agricultural  operations 
to  which  they  stand  in  an  essential  relation. 

As  a  guiding  generality  in  tracing  the  evolution 
of  agriculture  to  its  highest  and  most  perfect  state, 
we  must  point  out  the  several  distinct  and  ele- 
mentary conditions  under  which  it  is  possible  to 
exist,  with  widely  variant  results.  The  process  of 
farming  can  be  carried  on  by  either  of  two  innately 
different  methods.  The  one,  which  is  yet  largely 
prevalent,  is  that  wherein  there  is  united  in  one 
body  of  operations  all  the  diverse  forms  of  labor 
and  varied  elements  that  make  up  agricultural 
processes  in  their  entirety. 

The  other  is  where  they  are  separated  into  two 
groups  of  correlated  forces  which,  while  essentially 
divergent  in  character,  have  in  reality  a  co-ordinate 


46  Rural  versus  Urban 

and  mutually  sustaining  action.  In  this  state  it 
assumes  the  form  of  a  village  or  town,  perhaps  the 
most  perfect  condition  under  which  purely  agri- 
cultiiral  operations  can  be  carried  on,  reaching  its 
highest  state  when  measured  in  the  light  of  total 
best  results.  Conversely,  where  all  the  forces  and 
factors  of  husbandry  are  united  in  one  general 
scheme,  the  least  aggregate  of  desirable  and  pos- 
sible results  is  attained. 

Where  each  cultivator  of  the  soil  combines  in  one 
general  operation  all  the  labors,  methods,  and  ap- 
pliances that  pertain  to  his  art,  it  is  obvious  that 
he  cannot  bestow  either  the  time  or  careful 
attention  to  those  operations  germane  to  the  pro- 
fession of  husbandry,  upon  the  extent  and  thor- 
oughness of  which  the  net  results  of  all  his  labors 
wholly  depend.  It  is  well  known  that  to  reach  the 
highest  excellence  in  the  economy  of  production, 
exclusive  and  concentrated  effort  is  indispensable. 
To  engage  them,  therefore,  upon  those  objects 
that  do  not  directly  contribute  to  the  special 
purpose  desired  is  but  to  unprofitably  consume 
time  and  energy,  confuse  and  derange  effort,  and 
lessen  effect. 

This  condition  is  most  perfectly  realized  where 
the  farmer  lives  upon  the  land  he  tills,  and  where 
he  combines  within  himself   all  the   direct  and 


Agricultural  Towns  47 

indirect  labor  and  agencies,  whereby  the  soil  is 
made  to  yield  its  products.  To  separate  these 
integral  elements  of  husbandry,  as  indicated,  he  is 
free,  therefore,  to  bestow  his  entire  energy,  and  to 
more  effectively  direct  his  thought  and  attention 
to  the  specific  processes,  essentially  agricultural. 

This  condition  can  be  fully  realized  by  the  in- 
dividual farmers  uniting  in  a  collective  body,  in 
which  there  will,  in  virtue  of  this  collective  state, 
arise  such  divisions  of  labor  as  will  more  advan- 
tageously supply  all  necessities  and  appliances 
that  indirectly  relate  to  those  operations  strictly 
germane  to  agriculture,  than  if  produced  by  his 
own  unskilled  labor.  It  is  because  of  these  mani- 
fold advantages  that  arise  out  of  a  concentration 
and  specialization  of  the  productive  forces  in  a 
communal  body  that  the  diffused  factors  of 
agriculture  tend  to  flow  towards  a  common  centre 
of  attraction. 

A  partial  realization  of  this  highest  state  of  agri- 
culture can  be  attained  where  cognate  forces  of 
production  separate  from  those  peculiar  to  pure 
agriculture,  and  unite  in  one  common  body  where 
their  highest  and  most  perfect  action  will  result. 
There  will  thus,  by  a  natural  segregating  pro- 
cess, develop  a  centre  of  population  quite 
distinct     from     the     purely    agricultural     that 


48  Rural  versus  Urban 

surrounds  it,  and  a  class  of  labor  equally 
distinct. 

While  it  is  true  that  where  the  farming  element 
live  on  their  respective  farms,  and  yield  to  the 
special  adaptive  forms  of  labor  in  the  village 
the  production  of  those  appliances  essential  to  the 
farm,  they  will  obtain  these  appliances  more 
advantageously  than  if  produced  by  their  own 
unskilled  labor,  there  yet  remains  a  body  of  do- 
mestic ajffairs  and  other  imformulated  matters, 
relating  indirectly  to  those  of  agriculture,  that 
could  also  be  speciaHzed  in  the  village,  so  that  they 
would  vastly  contribute  to  increased  comfort,  con- 
venience, and  fuller  economic  results.  The  village 
thus  formed  where  agriculture  still  remains  in  its 
diffused  state  is,  therefore,  but  a  partial  and  im- 
perfect development  of  that  more  perfect  state 
which  is  realized  when  all  the  industrial  and  do- 
mestic forces  are  concentrated  in  a  village  or  com- 
munal body,  and  where  there  develops  the  most 
perfect  correlation  of  all  the  industrial,  economic, 
and  social  forces  contained  in  an  agricultural  body 
of  defined  proportions. 

By  thus  divorcing,  as  it  were,  the  two  distinct 
classes  of  labor  embodied  in  primitive  agricultural 
operations,  and  each  becoming  a  helpful  comple- 
ment of  the  other,  and  united  in  a  village  or  town, 


Agricultural  Towns  49 

there  can  be  attained  not  only  a  larger  volume, 
but  greater  excellence,  in  all  the  products  of  the 
entire  community,  since  all  its  industrial  and  eco- 
nomic forces  exist  and  operate  under  those  natural 
conditions  that  secure  alike  for  each  a  maximum 
of  effective  energy.  To  maintain  them  in  an  un- 
formulated state,  in  a  homogeneous  agricultural 
body,  would  be  to  realize  in  each  an  imperfect 
action  and  a  minimum  of  results. 

In  the  just  correlation  of  all  the  industrial 
factors  contained  in  a  given  agricultural  body,  by 
centring  them  in  the  village,  we  find  the  germ 
that  progressively  develops,  from  the  village  into 
the  town,  and  from  the  town  into  the  city. 

I  trust  you  will  bear  with  me  in  the  effort  to 
trace,  in  a  more  specific  manner,  the  evolution  of 
the  urban  state  of  life. 

To  sustain  life  is  the  first  and  last  desire,  ob- 
ject, and  necessity  of  mankind,  and  it  is  from  this 
that  spring  all  the  varied  forms  of  human  energy 
and  activity.  The  natural  and  inherent  tendency 
of  the  human  family  being  to  increase  in  such  a 
ratio  as  to  cause  it  to  persistently  press  upon  the 
possible  means  of  its  subsistence,  it  follows  that 
the  one  is  dependent  upon  and  rigidly  limited  by 
the  other.  Thus  it  is  in  the  field  of  the  contending 
and  unequal  forces  of  life's  demands  and  nature's 


50  Rural  versus  Urban 

supply  that  the  precarious  struggle  of  man  for 
existence  must  ever  be  maintained  and  deter- 
mined. This  struggle  must  definitely  delimit  the 
urban  and  rural  states  of  mankind,  so  long  as  the 
soil  is  the  one  only  source  from  whence  man  can 
draw  those  elements  essential  to  maintain  human 
life.  Nor  does  it  seem  probable  that  he  will  ever 
escape  from  or  avert  this  imperative  relation 
between  the  generative  tendency  of  the  human 
race  and  the  possible  means  of  sustaining  its  life. 
Should  he,  however,  ultimately  become  enabled 
to  create  new  sources  of  supply,  other  than  those 
due  to  natural  conditions  and  causes,  and  there- 
by augment  the  means  of  subsistence,  it  would  at 
once  be  followed  by  a  corresponding  increase  in 
the  himian  family  conformable  with  such  an  in- 
crease in  the  means  of  its  subsistence,  when  the 
same  pressure  upon  it  would  be  again  speedily  re- 
stored. The  prime  necessity,  therefore,  of  the  hu- 
man family,  and  one  from  which  it  cannot  escape, 
is  to  provide  the  necessary  means  to  sustain  the 
life  of  its  individual  members.  Hence,  if  any  class 
or  section  of  it  secures  to  itself  an  excess  beyond 
what  it  is  vitally  dependent  upon,  it  can  do  so  only 
by  encroaching  upon  the  existence  of  that  portion 
of  mankind  which  must  rely  upon  its  entire  ef- 
forts to  produce  those  means  primarily  essential 


Agricultural  Towns  51 

to  life.  Such  acquired  excess  would  involve  a 
diversion  of  effort  that  might  be  applied  to  the 
betterment  and  amelioration  of  the  himian  family, 
and  enable  it  to  attain  the  fullest  condition  of  life 
possible  under  the  limitations  imposed  by  nature ; 
hence  such  excess  must  be  degenerative  in  its 
effects  upon  the  larger  part  of  mankind.  From 
this  it  would  appear  that  a  general  state  of  excess 
or  liixury  is  incompatible  with  the  first  necessity 
of  existence,  as  well  as  its  perpetuity.  As  there  is 
contained  in  the  urban  state  of  man  no  form  of 
qualitative  force  or  quantitative  energy  that  did 
not  pre-exist,  either  actually  or  potentially,  in  the 
prior  and  more  primary  rural  state  of  the  himian 
race,  such  urban  state  cannot,  therefore,  arise  from 
self-generative  causes,  but  in  origin  and  subse- 
quent support  is  wholly  dependent  upon  the 
anterior  rural  state,  out  of  the  life  forces  of  which 
there  concentrated  those  peculiar  to,  and  consti- 
tuting, the  urban  or  collective  form  of  mankind. 
To  say  that  it  can  have  its  origin  and  maintain  its 
existence  separate  and  apart  from  the  primary  or 
rural  condition  of  the  human  family,  would  be 
as  if  one  said  that  the  eagle  could  soar  beyond  the 
atmosphere  wherein  it  floats  and  by  which  it  is 
sustained. 

As  there  is,  therefore,  not  embodied  in  the  urban 


52  Rural  versus  Urban 

state  of  man  anything  that  in  its  own  proper 
nature  and  action  can  directly  sustain  life  within 
itself,  it  can  of  necessity  arise  only  out  of,  is  wholly 
dependent  upon,  and  subordinate  to,  the  more 
general  and  primary  rural  condition  of  mankind. 
A  relation  growing  out  of  causes  so  elementary 
and  fundamental — being  that  of  child  to  parent — 
it  implies  of  necessity  that  it  can  exist  only  under 
definite  and  impassable  limitations. 

But  it  may  be  urged  that  such  definite  and  fixed 
relation  of  the  urban  and  rural  elements  of  a 
people  does  not  essentially  exist,  since  among  the 
nations  there  is  often  observed  the  widest  diver- 
gence in  the  ratio  of  the  urban  to  the  agrarian 
life  and  interests,  as  in  one  the  former  may 
vastly  preponderate,  and  in  another  the  latter  may 
be  equally  in  excess.  It  must,  however,  be  dis- 
tinctly noted  that  it  is  only  in  those  nations  where 
the  commercial  spirit  is  the  ascendant  one  that 
there  is  found  an  excessive  disproportion  of  the 
urban  to  the  rural  element. 

This  fully  accounts  for  any  marked  disparity 
existing  in  such  nations,  since  their  commercial 
influence,  being  carried  into  the  agricultural  do- 
main of  countries  beyond  their  own  border,  the 
excess  of  the  urban  over  the  rural  element  in  such 
nations  conforms  strictly  to  the  extent  to  which 


Agricultural  Towns  53 

such  influence  has  been  carried  into  the  agricultural 
realm  of  foreign  lands.  Hence,  when  there  exists 
in  a  nation  a  pronounced  excess  of  the  urban  over 
that  which  would  have  prevailed  if  such  nation  had 
confined  its  whole  industrial  energies  to  the  field 
of  its  own  domestic  resources,  such  excess  will  be 
fotmd  to  closely  correspond  with  the  extent  to 
which  that  nation  has  enlarged  its  agricultural 
relations  with  foreign  countries  above  that  of 
its  own  domestic  agriculture.  Therefore,  in  con- 
sidering the  probable  validity  of  the  proposition 
laid  down,  it  is  imperative  to  consider  also  the 
entire  rural  and  urban  population  and  interests 
existing,  as  a  whole,  in  all  the  nations  having  com- 
mercial intercourse  with  one  another.  Self-ex- 
istent as  is  the  primal  or  rural  state  of  the  human 
family,  and  so  wholly  dependent  upon  it  in  origin 
and  existence  as  is  the  urban,  or  secondary  and 
subordinate  part,  there  nevertheless  exists,  as  we 
have  heretofore  indicated,  a  natural  tendency  of 
the  inchoative  forces  contained  in  the  rural  body 
to  segregate  into  special  forms,  and  hence  there 
crystallizes  therefrom,  into  a  specific  form,  those 
forces  that  are  peculiar  to  the  urban,  or  collective 
state  of  mankind. 

In  this  separation  of  the  elemental  forces  con- 
tained in  the  rural  body  of  a  people  into  those 


54  Rural  versus  Urban 

primary  divisions  on  lines  so  natural  and  funda- 
mental, there  will  be  attained,  as  before  pointed 
out,  a  fuller  life  and  a  more  complete  develop- 
ment of  the  whole  human  family,  being  a  result 
in  accord  with  the  harmonious  operation  of 
nature's  laws. 

There  is  manifestly  embodied  in  the  very  spirit 
of  natural  trade  and  industrial  laws  a  vital  cor- 
rective, operating  to  conserve  these  just  reciprocal 
relations,  the  outgrowi;h  of  their  full  and  equable 
action.  This  seems  self-evident,  for  where  there 
has  been  reached  a  due  balance  between  the  car- 
dinal productive  forces,  there  can  be  no  innate 
tendency  towards  a  disturbance  of  this  equili- 
brium, since  the  increase  or  decrease  of  either  can 
arise  from  internal  causes  only;  there  of  necessity 
must  follow  a  corresponding  increase  or  diminu- 
tion of  the  others.  You  will,  therefore,  perceive 
that  any  disturbance  of  the  well-ordered  harmony 
of  the  integral  parts  of  an  industrial  body  can 
arise  from  extraneous  causes  alone. 

When  we  critically  consider  those  essentially 
distinct  and  different  groups  of  labor  which  nat- 
urally generate  from  the  collection  of  a  given  num- 
ber of  agricultural  units  into  the  concrete  form 
of  a  village  or  tovm,  we  discover  that  there  in- 
heres in  their  very  nature  and  related  capacities 


Agricultural  Towns  55 

the  possibilities  of  disturbing  extraneous  influences 
such  as  may  become  fatal  to  the  just  relation  of 
parts,  upon  which  the  stability  and  integrity  of 
the  communal  body  depend.  Carefully  viewed, 
it  is  apparent  that  when  assembled  in  the  form  of 
a  village,  the  innate  forces  contained  in  an  agri- 
cultural body  differentiate  into  two  sections, 
widely  divergent  in  their  character:  those  that 
attach  and  are  peculiar  to  agriculture,  and 
those  connate  only  with  the  collective  estate  of 
mankind. 

The  marked  characteristic  that  distinguishes 
these  two  groups,  so  innately  different  in  nature, 
is  the  capacity  of  the  one  for  unlimited  growth  and 
development,  and  the  want  of  a  like  power  of  in- 
definite expansion  in  the  other.  In  this  we  can 
trace  the  germ  of  that  influence  which,  more  than 
all  other  causes,  operates  to  dislocate  the  economic 
and  industrial  affairs  of  a  nation.  We  have 
ventured  to  define  the  life  principle  of  an  organic 
body,  corporeal  or  otherwise,  as  existing  in  the 
just  co-ordination  and  equable  interaction  of  its 
component  parts.  While  not  of  a  tangible  nature, 
an  industrial  and  economic  organism  is  possessed 
of  the  same  general  features,  characteristic  of  and 
subject  to  the  interactions  of  its  related  and  con- 
stituent parts,   as   are  those  that  affect  the  life 


56  Rural  versus  Urban 

conditions  of  corporeal  bodies.  If  this  be  true,  it 
follows  that  a  sound,  healthy,  and  well-ordered 
industrial  and  economic  body  can  be  maintained 
only  by  a  natural  and  true  correlation  of  its 
cardinal  parts.  An  undue  preponderance  or 
deficiency  of  either  must  imply  an  unhealthy 
state  of  the  whole. 

In  the  vast  and  inscrutable  economy  of  nature, 
we  find  in  the  animal  part  of  it  there  are  those 
that  live  upon  its  decayed  members.  But  in 
the  just  order  of  nature's  operations,  the  normal 
state  of  animal  life  is  that  of  health,  and  disease 
is  but  an  evidence  of  a  derangement  of  her  laws. 
The  lives  of  those  creatures  dependent  upon  con- 
ditions so  abnormal  and  exceptional  must,  in 
like  manner,  be  precarious  and  uncertain.  In  the 
order  of  their  distribution,  therefore,  they  form 
an  inconsiderable,  even  insignificant,  part  of  the 
whole.  Similarly,  when  the  industrial  and  eco- 
nomic body  becomes  diseased,  there  spontane- 
ously arises  that  class  adapted  and  suited  to 
live  and  thrive  upon  its  diseased  members 
also. 

We  have  seen  that  in  the  marked  and  essential 
difference  in  the  two  cardinal  elements  into  which 
the  innate  forces  of  an  agricultural  body  neces- 
sarily integrates,  when  assuming  the  character  of 


Agricultural  Towns  57 

a  village,  or  communal  body,  there  lies  the  nascent 
possibility  of  such  inharmony  of  action  through 
external  influences  and  causes  as  may  subvert 
all  healthy  relations  between  them. 


V 

ETHICS  OF  TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY 

IT  is  here  that  the  ethical  equation  enters  as  the 
most  potent  determining  factor  in  the  econ- 
omic relations  of  man.  It  is  apart  from  our 
purpose  or  desire  to  deal  with  the  abstract  ethics 
involved  in  an  enquiry  as  to  the  remote  origin  of 
that  tendency  of  mankind  to  pervert  what  is  in- 
herently good,  and  which  visits  upon  him  much 
of  the  evils  that  afflict  the  world.  It  is  sufflcient 
to  note  that  it  is  coeval  with  his  origin  and  con- 
tinues with  undiminished  tendency,  and  can  as 
yet  be  accounted  for  only  by  the  all  too  prox- 
imate reasons,  that  it  is  due  to  the  weakness, 
frailty,  and  imperfections  of  mankind. 

The  evolution  of  the  political  forces  of  a  nation 
into  that  concrete  body  of  laws  known  as  govern- 
ment has  followed  the  same  integrating  process  of 
primal  units  that  marks  the  general  development  of 
organic  bodies.  Being,  therefore,  in  a  larger  sense 
a  natural  evolution,  such  government  can  be  re- 

58 


Ethics  of  Trade  and  Industry       59 

garded  as  the  highest,  perhaps  the  only  possible, 
product  of  the  whole  body,  and  of  the  complex 
conditions  out  of  which  it  evolved. 

As  no  state  of  mankind  can  ever  assimie  a  fixed 
form,  being  subject  to  involved  internal  and  ex- 
ternal modifying  influences,  it  is  manifest  that 
the  body  of  laws,  suited  to,  and  in  harmony  with, 
those  special  conditions  out  of  which  it  arose,  can- 
not remain  in  adjustment  with  those  which  in  the 
growth  of  the  nation  must  progressively  and  in- 
evitably arise.  Therefore,  the  natural  evolution 
of  the  laws  of  a  nation  must  ever  be  in  direct 
correspondence  with  that  of  the  more  general 
evolu'ion  of  the  nation  itself. 

It  is  in  the  effort  to  adjust  the  laws  to  an  ever- 
changing  condition  of  national  affairs  that  poli- 
tical differences  and  partisan  divisions  originate, 
since  in  the  general  development  there  arises  out 
of  the  common  interests  those  of  a  specific  and 
special  nature,  and  we  thus  often  find  that  the 
very  efforts  to  establish  harmony  only  increase 
the  disorder  they  sought  to  prevent  or  remove. 

In  the  perversion  of  a  noble  and  needful  into 
an  insatiate  desire  to  accumulate,  we  can  discover 
the  origin  of  all  those  efforts  of  a  special  class  or 
interest  to  unjustly  divert  a  portion  of  the  public 
wealth  to  their  own  selfish  benefit  and  advantage. 


6o  Rural  versus  Urban 

The  two  great  bodies  of  productive  force,  the  re- 
sultant definite  product  of  a  natural  integration 
of  kindred  units  comprised  in  their  heterogeneous 
forms  in  agriculture — the  common  parent  of  all 
— should,  in  virtue  of  their  identity  of  origin,  tend 
to  maintain  none  other  than  a  mutually  sustaining 
relation.  If  it  be  otherwise,  we  must  look  to 
the  mischievous  intervention  of  man  for  the  sole 
adequate  cause. 

In  his  efforts  to  regulate,  by  his  own  laws,  the 
various  relations  of  the  human  family  in  their 
many  social  and  industrial  capacities,  he  too  often 
fails  to  discern  that  such  legislative  purposes  can 
be  attained  only  through  the  diversion  into  specific 
channels  of  those  natural  forces  by  and  through 
which  these  relations  are  created  and  exist.  As 
nature's  laws  are  ever  persistent,  and  in  their 
totality  harmonious  in  action,  their  results,  being 
the  necessary  consequence  of  them,  are,  there- 
fore, the  highest  possible.  Any  effect  upon  them 
through  the  influence  of  the  laws  of  man  will,  in 
the  very  nature  of  things,  tend  to  create  conditions 
and  relations  at  variance  with  those  that  must 
have  resulted  from  the  undisturbed  flow  of  cause 
and  effect  in  the  uniform  course  of  nature's  own 
laws.  In  this  attempt  to  divert  nature's  methods 
and  arrest  th^  just  order  of  her  laws,  by  the  in- 


Ethics  of  Trade  and  Industry       6i 

tervention  of  those  of  man,  there  lies  the  possi- 
bility of  such  strife  and  confusion  in  all  human 
affairs  as  to  seriously  impede  the  natural  course 
of,  and  hence  its  true,  development. 

The  evolution  of  the  political  forces  of  a  nation 
into  a  concrete  body  of  laws  or  government  has 
followed,  as  we  have  noted,  the  same  segregating 
process  of  primal  units  that  marks  the  generation 
of  all  organic  bodies.  Being,  therefore,  in  the 
widest  sense  a  natural  evolution,  such  govern- 
ment must  be  regarded  as  the  highest,  perhaps 
the  only  possible,  product  of  all  the  forces  and  ele- 
ments constituting  the  entire  body  out  of  which 
they  evolved.  But  as  no  state  of  mankind,  as 
we  have  pointed  out,  can  remain  fixed  or  constant, 
but  is  ever  subject  to  change,  it  is  manifest  that 
no  body  of  laws  arising  out  of,  and  suited  to,  one 
condition  of  the  human  family,  can  bear  a  sus- 
tained harmony  with  those  of  a  different  character 
that  in  the  progress  of  nature  must  continuously 
and  inevitably  arise.  The  evolution  of  the  laws 
of  the  people  must  thus  be  in  strict  correspond- 
ence with  a  more  general  evolution. 

As  all  the  various  and  diverse  material  interests 
of  the  whole  people  arise  out  of  a  natural  order  of 
development  dependent  upon  mutual  necessities, 
and  as  the  political  forces  have  followed  the  same 


62  Rural  versus  Urban 

course  of  development,  it  would  seem  that  in  a 
harmonious  society,  containing  in  its  structure  a 
conserving  tendency  of  all  its  parts,  there  could 
arise  no  political  force  not  in  consonance  with  the 
best  interests  of  all  its  members. 

At  the  risk  of  needless  prolixity,  we  must  recur 
again  to  those  natural  laws  through  the  unison  of 
whose  operation  we  have  endeavored  to  show  that 
organic  bodies  arise.  We  have  seen  that  in  the 
different  conditions  of  a  primitive  people  there  is 
a  natural  tendency  in  the  component  units  to  seg- 
regate into  special  groups  of  like  units.  In  this 
process  there  form  more  or  less  concentrated 
assemblages  according  to  the  nature  and  degree 
of  the  forces  that  cause  them  to  gravitate  to- 
gether. It  has  been  pointed  out,  also,  that,  in  the 
very  nature  of  the  art  of  agriculture,  the  highest 
state  can  be  reached  only  when  its  workers  are 
concentrated  in  small  communities  under  the 
primary  limitations  of  its  assembling  forces.  It 
has  appeared,  also,  that  such  forces  as  are  intrinsic 
to  village  or  town  life  have  the  nature  of  un- 
limited growth  and  expansion.  Theoretically,  we 
find  that  in  its  most  perfect  form,  by  a  natural  in- 
tegration, the  entire  nation  is  divided  into  two 
elementary  sections  of  industrial  forces:  agri- 
culture, with  its  multitude  of  widely  diffused  small 


Ethics  of  Trade  and  Industry       63 

communities;  and  the  urban,  with  its  equally 
natural  concentration  into  a  smaller  number,  but 
larger  communities  or  cities. 

The  towns  and  cities  themselves,  as  a  whole, 
when  considered  as  a  body  of  units,  follow  a  like 
course  of  differentiation  and  development.  There 
is  a  similar  tendency  among  the  component  fac- 
tors and  forces  in  each  urban  centre,  separated 
and  diffused  throughout  a  nation,  to  gravitate 
towards  those  centres  in  which  there  exists  the 
greatest  number  of  natural  and  acquired  advan- 
tages, whereby  such  concentration  of  forces  will 
produce  a  larger  aggregate  of  beneficial  results 
than  if  they  remained  and  were  exercised  in  the 
widely  diffused  centres  where  there  are  less  fa- 
vorable conditions  and  facilities  of  production.  It 
is  this  natural  tendency  of  the  productive  forces 
in  less  favored  centres  to  assemble  in  those  pos- 
sessed of  superior  advantages  that  causes  the  un- 
equal growth  of  cities  witnessed  in  all  nations. 

We  have  ventured  to  point  out  that  when  this 
division  of  the  whole  body  of  the  nation  into  these 
primary  groups  has  resiilted  from  natural  causes, 
and  on  harmonious  lines,  there  can  be  no  inhar- 
mony  of  interest,  since  they  arise  out  of,  and  exist 
only  by,  a  common  necessity  and  through  mutu- 
ally helpful  and  sustaining  causes. 


64  Rural  versus  Urban 

Although  it  might  be  sufficient  to  our  purpose 
to  deal  only  with  observed  facts  and  established 
truths,  we  will  venture  upon  a  brief  discussion  of 
the  ethical  question, — why  it  is  that  the  tendency 
of  mankind  toward  vice  is  in  a  direct  ratio  to  the 
degree  and  extent  of  its  intimacy  of  association? 
In  common  with  other  ethical  problems,  in  which 
we  vainly  seek  the  ultimate  cause,  it  may  not  be 
wholly  fruitless  to  venture  to  point  out  in  this  case 
the  more  obvious  ones. 

We  find  in  the  moral  nature  of  man  that  the  gov- 
erning principle  which  directs  him  toward  a  right 
relation  with  his  fellows  lies  not  so  much  in  the 
hope  of  present  as  of  distant  rewards.  As  matter 
is  the  one  perceptible,  immediate,  and  concrete 
cause  that  not  only  awakens  his  thoughts,  emo- 
tions, sentiments,  and  bodily  activities,  but  con- 
stitutes the  sensible  means  of  his  happiness  and 
pleasures,  it  is  difficult  for  him  to  be  as  deeply 
impressed  by  the  more  abstract  idea,  that  in  the 
realm  of  the  imponderable  there  exists  a  moral 
essence  that  can  not  only  give  greater  happiness 
in  this  life,  but  can  insure  as  a  distant  reward 
for  right  conduct  an  endless  happiness  in  a  world 
to  come. 

In  his  finite  state,  it  is  far  easier  for  man  to  be 
impressed  by,  and  to  follow  the  guidance  of,  inJlu- 


Ethics  of  Trade  and  Industry       65 

ences  and  laws  that  seem  to  inhere  in  the  tangible 
universe  about  him  than  those  of  an  invisible  and 
abstract  nature.  It  is,  therefore,  the  material  and 
physical  means  of  happiness,  with  their  immediate 
rewards,  that  most  impress  him  and  control  his 
relations  with  others. 

It  is  in  the  cities,  that  mankind  finds  greater 
resources  of  material  enjoyment;  for  imder  the 
innate  conditions  of  urban  life  there  are  presented 
not  only  more  abundant  visible  means  of  happi- 
ness, but  in  more  profuse  and  alluring  forms  than 
in  any  other  mode  of  existence.  The  fierce  in- 
tensity of  life  in  the  cities,  its  confusion  and 
profusion,  its  intoxicating  excitements,  haste,  and 
distractions,  preclude  that  state  of  mental  repose 
and  calm  essential  to  contemplate  the  more  ab- 
stract attributes  and  principles  that  underlie  and 
govern  our  life,  which,  as  rules  of  conduct,  are  the 
only  guides  whereby  mankind  can  reach  that  state 
of  highest,  truest,  and  most  enduring  happiness. 

This  greater  intensity  of  interaction  in  the 
cities  is  in  conformity  with  the  primary  law  of 
matter,  that  the  impressions  of  one  body  upon 
another  are  inversely  as  the  distance  that  separ- 
ates them.  This  being  true  of  inanimate  bodies, 
how  much  more  so  must  it  be  as  between 
those  endowed  with  a  self -moving  principle.     It 


66  Rural  versus  Urban 

follows,  therefore,  that  for  a  given  number  of  hu- 
man imits  in  a  denser  form,  in  the  cities,  there  will 
arise  out  of  their  closer  approximation  vastly 
greater,  more  intense,  involved,  and  confused  in- 
teractions than  in  a  like  number  of  units  of  man- 
kind existing  in  the  diffused  and  simpler  forms  of 
rural  life.  In  the  contagions  of  their  fiercer  and 
intenser  intercourse,  is  it  not  rather  more  the  vices 
than  the  virtues  of  mankind  that  are  propagated 
in  the  whirl  and  throng  of  life?  Does  not  man, 
indeed,  seek  the  true  light  and  highest  spirit  of 
devotion  by  wholly  retiring  himself  from  the 
active  world,  and  through  solitary  worship,  silent 
meditation,  and  self-communion? 

But  as  it  is  the  sensible  and  not  intangible  pro- 
perties that  inspire  the  greatest  action  between 
bodies  possessed  of  voluntary  motion,  their  active 
relations  are  more  largely  confined  to  the  material 
affairs  of  existence,  becoming,  by  their  mutual 
actions  and  reactions,  progressively  more  and  more 
artificial  and  involved. 

In  the  wider  separation  of  the  units  of  mankind 
in  his  rural  condition,  he  is  not  to  the  same  degree 
as  in  the  cities  encompassed  by  material  forms  and 
relations,  with  their  constraining  influence  upon 
his  thoughts  and  actions,  and  he  is,  therefore,  freer 
to  fall  under  the  dominion  of  the  more  abstract 


Ethics  of  Trade  and  Industry       67 

principles  and  influences  that  make  for  a  higher 
and  purer  state  of  Hfe.  It  is,  therefore,  in  virtue 
of  the  widely  different  conditions  of  life  that  the 
one  finds,  in  concrete  forms  and  artificial  condi- 
tions, his  chief  aspiration  and  stimulus  to  action ; 
and  the  other,  in  simpler  and  more  natural  sur- 
rotmdings,  derives  his  guidance  from  abstract 
principles  and  intangible  forms. 

It  is  the  untutored  mind  that  sees  God  in  the 
clouds,  hears  Him  in  the  wind,  and  finds  in  the 
groves  His  first  temples;  and  it  is  the  cultured 
mind  that  sees  Him  in  massive  temples  and  colos- 
sal ornate  structures,  and  worships  Him  through 
the  material  media  of  concrete  formulas.  It  is  in 
the  greater  attrition  of  units,  and  closer  proximity 
with  their  fiercer  conflicts  in  the  cities,  that  there 
develops  in  a  corresponding  degree  a  sense  of  the 
highest  law  of  life, — self-preservation. 

It  must  be  here  noted  that  in  the  exercise  of  like 
political  rights  vested  in  each  individual  of  the 
nation  there  arises,  in  many  instances,  the  ano- 
maly, that  a  vastly  disproportionate  power  is 
wielded  in  the  government  by  the  cities,  beyond 
that  of  a  similar  franchise  in  the  country.  Even 
more,  an  inferior  electorate  in  the  cities  can  wield 
a  much  greater  influence  than  a  superior  one  in 
the  rural  element  of  the  nation.     The  solution  of 


68  Rural  versus  Urban 

this  is  to  be  foiind  in  the  fact,that  in  the  more  com- 
pact state  of  the  electorate  of  the  city  there  Hes  a 
more  constant  and  intimate  intercourse,  and  thus 
a  higher  capacity  to  organize  its  poHtical  forces 
into  a  homogeneous  body  such  as  will  possess  the 
greatest  vital  energy,  under  united  and  common 
interests  to  be  directed  in  definite  directions  and 
for  specific  objects, — only  too  often  of  a  selfish 
nature. 

As  illustrating  this  facility  to  unite  the  political 
units  of  a  city  into  a  compact  accordant  mass, 
with  an  identity  of  purpose  and  interest,  it  has 
long  been  a  familiar  spectacle  in  the  material 
field  of  politics,  that  the  small  crystallized  forces 
of  a  few  cities  can  dominate  at  pleasure  the  un- 
formulated forces  of  half  a  nation.  While  the 
inherent  political  power  of  a  city  may  become 
diversified  into  subsidiary  groups,  in  accord  with 
their  special  interests,  they  are,  as  a  whole,  always 
united  by  a  common  interest  that  may  arise 
from  their  relation  to  external  affairs. 

The  inherent  inability  of  the  rural  electorate  to 
maintain  the  same  intimate  and  continuous  in- 
tercourse precludes  the  possibility  of  their  giving 
full  force  and  adequate  expression  to  their  innate 
poHtical  rights  and  power. 

It  essentially  follows  that  a  total  of  political 


Ethics  of  Trade  and  Industry       69 

units,  widely  diffused  in  the  rural  classes  of  a 
nation,  are  a  far  less  potent  factor  in  the  general 
government  than  an  inferior  number  existing  in 
a  concentrated  form  in  the  cities.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  a  wise  solution  of  a  fundamental 
policy,  vitally  affecting  the  general  interest  and 
welfare,  can  be  reached  only  when  there  is  the 
most  complete  interchange  of  individual  opinions 
and  views  throughout  the  entire  electorate,  and 
unless  this  can  be  done  the  influence  of  the  dema- 
gogue becomes  paramount. 

The  marked  advantage  of  combined  political 
forces,  in  virtue  of  their  more  available  form  in  the 
cities,  is  shown  in  France.  By  concentrating  her 
agricultural  population  into  villages  and  com- 
munes, there  is  in  some  measure  realized  those 
special  political  advantages  peculiar  to  the  col- 
lective state  of  mankind.  In  many  ways,  their 
beneficial  effects  upon  her  agricultural  element  are 
manifest. 

The  most  conspicuous  influence  in  the  increased 
political  power  of  the  agriculturists,  secured  there- 
by, is  the  effective  restraint  it  imposes  upon  the 
larger  and  more  powerful  urban  centres  of  the 
nation,  standing  as  a  secure  bulwark  against  those 
selfish  predatory  inroads  upon  rural  rights,  so 
often  witnessed  in  other  nations  under  the  uncon- 


70  Rural  versus  Urban 

trolled  sway  of  a  dominant  urbanism.  In  those 
nations  where  this  nascent  poHtical  power  has  not 
materialized,  by  crystallizing  its  agriculture  into 
communal  groups,  thereby  securing  to  it  a  power 
in  the  government  commensurate  with  the  im- 
portant part  it  plays  in  the  industrial  and  eco- 
nomic affairs  of  the  nation,  the  overwhelming,  and 
of  right  the  dominant,  agrarian  power  must  ever 
play  a  subordiante  r61e  in  the  legislative  affairs  of 
the  government.  To  secure  and  maintain  this 
just  co-ordinate  power  is  possible  only  in  a  con- 
centrated form  of  the  agricultural  body  of  a  nation, 
hence  it  becomes  the  final  evolution  of  rural  life. 
As  an  instance  of  how  the  dominant  forces  of 
the  cities  can  be  effectively  directed  towards  ac- 
quiring unjust  advantages  over  the  agricultural 
interests  of  a  nation,  the  com  laws  of  England 
may  be  cited  as  a  conspicuous  example.  In  their 
immediate  effects  they  promoted  the  interests 
and  growth  of  the  cities,  and  directly,  as  a  con- 
sequence, the  partial  ruin  of  her  vast  agricultural 
system  which  then,  even  as  now,  in  its  depressed 
state,  was  the  one  overshadowing  industry  of  the 
United  Kingdom.  It  was  to  these  laws,  also,  that 
can  be  directly  ascribed  the  abnormal  growth  and 
prosperity  of  the  cities  and  their  cognate  indus- 
tries during  the  last  half-century. 


Ethics  of  Trade  and  Industry       71 

In  a  strict  analysis,  it  was  largely  an  indirect 
transference  of  the  wealth  of  the  agrarian  ele- 
ment of  the  country  into  the  cities;  and  there 
must  be  set  against  the  entire  urban  gain  a  very 
large  total  loss  sustained  by  the  country  during 
that  time  in  a  gross  estimate  of  national  wealth. 

When  all  the  direct  and  indirect  results  and 
effects  are  summed  up  in  the  great  account,  it  is 
a  question  whether  the  remaining  net  balance 
justifies  the  hazard  that  this  nation  took  in  build- 
ing up,  by  the  power  of  the  government,  one  class 
of  industries  at  the  expense  of  another. 

That  such  favoritism  of  law,  operating  to  de- 
velop the  cities  and  their  special  interests  at  the  ex- 
pense of  a  nation's  agriculture,  is  fraught  with  the 
most  dangerous  future  consequences,  is  shown  by 
the  violent  conflict  of  public  opinion  now  raging 
in  England.  This  great  nation,  resting  supinely 
for  half  a  century  in  the  comfortable  belief  as  to 
•■".he  perfection  of  her  fiscal  laws  and  economic 
system,  seems  to  have  suddenly  awakened  to  the 
perils  that,  in  fact,  insidiously  lurked  in  a  system 
that  was  long  lauded  for  its  benign  influence  mani- 
fest in  the  "blessings  of  universal  prosperity.*^  So 
swift  and  marked  a  change  has  come  over  their 
commercial  dreams  that  they  now  seem  to  see 
that  in  the  magic  of  fiscal  laws,  so  recently  and 


72  Rural  versus  Urban 

universally  applauded,  there  really  exists  the  dan- 
gerous virus  of  socialism. 

How  the  hypnotic  influence  of  self-interest  can 
warp  even  the  best-ordered  minds  and  characters 
is  shown  by  the  belief,  rapidly  obtaining  among 
influential  citizens  in  all  nations,  that  those  laws 
which  favorably  affect  the  great  masses  of  a 
nation  are  socialistic  in  nature;  while  those  that 
in  like  manner  benefit  the  smaller  class  of  wealth 
and  privilege  are  sound  and  conserving  in  prin- 
ciple, and  salutary  in  effect. 

In  our  own  country,  this  building  up  of  the 
urban,  at  the  expense  of  the  rural  interests  of  the 
nation,  is  even  more  manifest  than  in  England. 
It  is  one  of  the  many  economic  anomalies  in  the 
ultimate  working  of  trade  laws,  that,  under  the 
special  conditions  prevailing  in  our  own  country, 
a  like  effect  was  produced  by  not  only  different, 
but  exactly  opposite,  means  to  those  employed  in 
England.  Our  protective  tariff,  land,  and  kindred 
laws  caused  an  even  more  phenomenal  upbuilding 
of  the  urban,  and  with  even  more  disastrous  ef- 
fects upon  the  rural  element  of  the  nation  than 
resulted  from  the  contrary  laws  of  Sir  Robert 
Peel.  That  laws  favoring  special  interests  can 
profoundly  dislocate  the  productive  forces  of  a 
nation  and  cause  a  vicious  distribution  of  its  pro- 


Ethics  of  Trade  and  Industry       73 

ducts  is  more  than  sufficiently  shown  by  the 
effect  of  those  laws  in  our  country  that  operated 
to  enrich  the  urban  at  the  expense  of  the  rural 
element. 

The  consideration  of  a  few  special  features  that 
mark  the  direct  results  of  these  discriminating 
laws  may  serve  to  reveal  their  astounding  and 
baleful  effects.  Prior  to  the  enactment  of  those 
measures  that  so  obviously  favored  the  urban 
interests  of  the  nation,  the  general  growth  and 
prosperity  developed,  pari  passu,  with  the  im- 
portance of  these  two  great  cardinal  industries 
of  our  country.  Since  the  passage  of  those  laws, 
out  of  the  total  net  increase  of  the  wealth  of  the 
nation  almost  eight  tenths  passed  into  the  hands  of 
the  urban,  while  the  other  two  tenths  was  all 
that  was  allowed  to  be  retained  by  the  rural  ele- 
ment of  it.  And  yet  this  was  during  the  most 
marvellous  period  of  apparent  prosperity  ever 
witnessed  by  the  nation,  and  it  was  only  a  moiety 
of  the  ratio  of  net  gains  of  the  rural  population 
to  the  urban  before  those  laws  were  enacted,  and 
when  the  average  population  was  less  than  half. 

Further,  as  disclosing  this  glaring  irregularity, 
during  this  period  those  engaged  in  husbandry 
were  nearly  six  tenths  of  the  whole  population ;  and 
still  further,   the  ratio  of   growth  of  the  rural 


74  Rural  versus  Urban 

portion  of  the  nation  was  equal  to  that  of  the 
urban  prior  to  the  passage  of  these  laws;  while, 
subsequent  to  their  enactment,  the  growth  of  the 
urban  element  more  than  doubled  their  former 
ratio.  During  the  whole  period  when  the  cyclonic 
urban  wave  swept  with  such  destructive  effect 
over  the  rural  interests  throughout  England  and 
the  United  States,  the  agricultural  affairs  of 
France,  secure  from  the  danger  of  a  like  serious 
disturbing  influence,  continued  to  prosper  apace, 
and  maintain,  undiminished,  its  wonted  relation 
to  the  whole  productive  industries  of  the  nation, 
and  secured  to  itself  a  full  co-ordinate  share  of  the 
aggregate  created  wealth.  This  equable  and  just 
distribution  of  wealth  between  the  two  cardinal 
producing  factors,  the  rural  and  the  urban,  can 
be  attributed  only  to  the  just  balance  of  political 
forces  severally  existing  and  maintained  within 
the  French  nation,  thus  rendering  each  secure 
against  an  undue  encroachment  upon  the  full 
rights  of  the  one  by  the  other. 

Thus,  during  the  period  that  witnessed  those 
violent  dislocations  in  the  industrial  affairs  of 
England  and  the  United  States,  those  of  France 
steadily  progressed  in  a  coequal  ratio,  giving  her 
as  a  whole  that  stability  of  economic  prosperity 
which  makes  her  the  envied  of  the  nations,  and 


Ethics  of  Trade  and  Industry        75 

the  development  of  that  marvellous  financial 
strength  upon  which  it  has  become  the  custom  of 
other  nations  to  lean  when,  by  the  unequal  action 
of  their  own  trade  and  fiscal  laws,  serious  internal 
disturbances  in  their  financial  and  economic 
affairs  arise. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  equable  balance  of 
the  political  forces  of  the  nation,  with  its  guarantee 
of  a  just  distribution  of  the  results  of  its  whole 
productive  energy,  was  wholly  due  to  the  separa- 
tion of  the  rural  element  in  France  into  villages 
and  communal  bodies;  in  which  assembled  form 
there  evolved  a  poHtical  power,  realizing  for  that 
interest  an  influence  in  the  legislative  affairs  of 
the  nation  commensurate  with  its  extent  and  rela- 
tive importance  in  the  entire  industries  of  France. 
To  what  degree  the  intrinsic  political  forces  of 
rural  France  can  be  resolved  into  one  harmonious, 
effective  body,  vitalized  by  one  common  impelling 
force  and  unity  of  interest  and  purpose,  can  be 
realized  when  it  is  stated  that  the  entire  body  of 
the  population  being  divided  into  37,700  villages, 
towns,  and  communes,  those  of  a  rural  nature,  or 
below  two  thousand  people,  number  35,400;  while 
those  essentially  urban  and  above  two  thousand, 
number  only  2300. 

By  this  distribution  of  the  rural  forces  of  France, 


76  Rural  versus  Urban 

you  will  see  that  no  antagonism  of  interest  or 
militant  attitude  can  arise  between  the  great 
urban  and  agricultural  bodies,  such  as  exists  in 
those  countries  where  husbandry  is  so  conditioned 
that  the  rise  of  an  ascendant  urban  poUtical 
power  in  the  nation  becomes  inevitable. 

This  antagonism  of  the  rural  and  urban  ele- 
ments of  a  nation,  with  the  grave  menace  to  its 
stability,  has  long  engaged  the  attention  of  the 
economist  and  the  statesman.  The  Spartan  law- 
giver was  perhaps  the  first  to  clearly  perceive  the 
true  nature  of  this  antagonism,  the  dangers  aris- 
ing out  of  it,  and  the  necessary  measures  to  arrest 
it.  He  also  saw  the  true  legislative  specific  com- 
petent to  meet  the  industrial  and  civic  disorders 
that  arise,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  out  of  the 
inharmony  of  these  interests. 

That  he  distinctly  recognized  the  element  of 
danger  to  the  state  in  the  unchecked  encroach- 
ments of  the  city  upon  the  rights  of  the  country 
is  clearly  evidenced  by  the  fact,  that  every  regu- 
lative principle  in  his  political  institutions  had 
for  its  special  object  the  protection  of  the  rural 
classes  against  the  aggressive  tendencies  of  the 
city,  and  the  creation  of  an  equable  and  stable  re- 
lation of  both.  A  complete  division  of  the  lands 
among  all  the  citizens  was  supplemented  by  a 


Ethics  of  Trade  and  Industry       77 

restraint  and,  in  a  measure,  prohibition  of  trade, 
commerce,  and  manufacture, — the  most  distinct 
city  building  agencies,  that  in  time  establish  the 
dominance  of  the  urban  over  the  rural  element  of 
the  state. 

By  this  and  other  regulative  measures  in  the 
affairs  of  the  people,  he  rendered  them  secure 
against  encroachments  of  special  interests  and 
classes,  in  fact  rendering  their  development  in 
the  state  impossible ;  thus  creating  an  equilibrium 
in  all  its  activities,  and  a  lasting,  just,  and  homo- 
geneous state  of  all.  That  the  object  of  his  in- 
stitutions was  not  Utopian,  or  his  laws  without 
value  or  practical  force  and  effect,  is  shown  by  the 
subsequent  history  of  Laconia,  which  rose  at 
once  to  the  highest  position  of  power,  prosperity, 
and  glory,  becoming  the  most  powerful  and  envied 
of  all  the  Grecian  states,  over  which  it  wielded  a 
commanding  influence  for  more  than  four  hun- 
dred years,  and  which  ended  only  with  the  life  of 
his  institutions. 


VI 

VICE  OF  CITIES 

'T'HAT  there  is  greater  innate  tendency  towards 
*  vice  in  the  cities  than  in  the  rural  condi- 
tions of  Hfe  scarcely  needs  more  confirming  proof 
than  is  found  in  the  marked  difference  in  the 
policing  and  restraining  necessities  of  the  urban 
and  rural  elements  of  a  nation.  As  compared  with 
their  ntmiber,  productive  power,  and  useful  re- 
sults to  the  nation,  there  is  such  an  overwhelming 
disparity  in  the  cost  and  effort  to  maintain  order, 
peace,  and  security  among  them,  respectively,  as 
might  stagger  the  statesman  and  moralist.  This 
manifest  inequal  ethical  status  of  the  city  and  the 
country  that  has  always  subsisted,  has  been  ob- 
served from  the  remotest  times,  and  has  ever 
been  the  lay  of  the  poet  and  the  bard. 

Whatever  may  be  the  cause  or  causes  of  this 
greater  trend  toward  vice  and  crime  in  the  cities 
than  in  the  rural  classes,  the  predatory  propensity, 

manifest   through   the   ages  in   the  former,  ever 

78 


Vice  of  Cities  79 

impels  them  to  seek  aggrandizement,  alike  in  the 
desolation  of  the  country  and  the  plunder  of  the 
weaker  cities.  Indeed,  the  early  history  of  Rome 
itself  was  that  of  robbery  and  of  devastating  and 
daring  incursions  into  the  territory  of  peaceful 
and  adjacent  tribes  by  the  warlike  inhabitants 
of  the  city  on  the  Palatine  Hill,  known  in  history 
as  the  "Rogues'  Asylum  of  Romulus." 

That  was  indeed  her  history  to  the  last,  and  it 
was  the  ruthless  promptings  of  an  insatiate  cu- 
pidity and  greed  that  pressed  her  on  to  the  world's 
conquest;  not,  as  some  sentimental  historians 
would  have  us  believe,  the  inspiration  of  high 
moral  aims  and  noble  impulses. 

The  chief  characteristic  that,  more  than  all 
others,  distinguished  Rome  from  the  many  sister 
cities  that  surrounded  her, — the  full  develop- 
ment of  which  led  to  her  universal  dominion, — 
is,  that  while  there  remained  in  the  other  hill 
cities  a  measurable  balance  of  a  primitive  agri- 
cultural and  pastoral  people,  the  urban  element 
through  her  warlike  predilections  was  from  the 
outstart  the  ruling  power  in  the  city  state.  The 
first  necessities  engendered  by  this  urban  prcj 
dominance  were  met  by  an  unjust  encroachment 
upon  the  rights  of  her  own  agricultural  classes,  and 
later  by  trampling  upon  the  rights  and  arbitrarily 


8o  Rural  versus  Urban 

appropriating  the  resources  and  territory  of  neigh- 
boring towns  and  cities. 

The  passion  for  robbery  by  the  urban  power  of 
the  Roman  city  state  grew  by  every  accretion  of 
plunder,  through  the  inductive  reactions  of  ap- 
petite and  gratification,  into  an  implacable  one, 
such  that  ultimately  the  world's  arena  alone  could 
supply  an  adequate  field  to  satiate  it ;  thus  event- 
ually culminating  in  that  debauchery  of  the  city 
(the  heart  of  the  nation)  whose  reflex  and  fatal 
miasma,  permeating  the  entire  body -politic,  ended 
in  the  final  ruin  and  utter  desolation  of  the 
empire. 

We  have  endeavored,  as  you  have  seen  hereto- 
fore, to  trace  in  some  elemental  manner  the 
special  causes  that  operate  in  the  collective  state 
of  man  to  evolve  new  forms  of  vice,  and  to  aug- 
ment to  an  excessive  degree  and  unduly  inflame 
the  evil  propensities  of  mankind. 

From  earliest  times,  the  history  of  the  human 
race  is  but  one  long  array  of  evidence  showing 
that  of  all  agencies  to  excite  and  animate  the 
nascent  frailties  of  the  human  heart  and  its 
baser  passions,  kindling  them  into  actions  to  their 
own  injury,  that  of  wealth  is  more  than  all  others 
the  most  potent.  Evil  as  the  power  of  wealth 
may  be — when  wrongly  exercised  in  its  diffused 
condition — it    is   vastly    augmented   in    degree, 


Vice  of  Cities  8i 

in  the  inverse  ratio  to  which  the  human  family 
becomes  concentrated.  Indeed,  it  is  in  the  cities 
that  wealth  finds  its  fullest  sphere  of  exercise, 
and  therefore  to  these  centres  it  naturally  gravi- 
tates. Great  as  is  this  natural  tendency,  it  is 
inordinately  augmented  by  the  many  artificial  aids 
supplied  by  modem  agencies  of  distribution  and 
communication.  So  vast  and  all-pervading  have 
these  agencies  become,  that  they  possess  the 
power,  not  only  to  concentrate  through  converg- 
ing channels  what  is  of  advantage  to  the  cities, 
but  also  to  radiate  from  their  centres  baleful 
influences  through  every  part  and  fibre  of  the 
nation. 

We  have  seen  that  the  stability  and  equality 
of  the  rural  and  urban  elements  of  a  nation  upon 
which  its  whole  industrial  and  economic  struc- 
tiure  rests,  can  be  preserved  only  when  the  agri- 
cultural forces  of  the  country  are  assembled  in 
the  form  of  villages,  towns,  and  communities,  in 
which  state  alone  can  develop  the  political  power 
essential  to  maintain  that  equality.  Indeed,  of 
necessity,  it  arises  out  of  that  law  of  evolution 
causing  the  homogeneous  units,  under  variant 
influences  upon  the  whole,  to  assume  more  com- 
plex forms  and  a  more  definite  segregation  of  its 
parts  into  those  of  a  specific  character.     The  per- 


82  Rural  versus  Urban 

manence  of  this  relation  among  the  prime  factors 
in  a  nation  can  be  disturbed  only  by  the  many 
forces  peculiar  to  the  cities;  which  forces,  in  virtue 
of  a  more  complete  contexture  than  is  possible  in 
the  agricultural  element,  may  develop,  under  a 
real  or  assumed  exigency,  a  dominance  of  city 
influence  over  the  whole  state. 

This  sometimes  assimies  a  military  character, 
which  is  directed  generally  against  some  foreign 
race  or  nation.  This  unequal  exercise  of  such 
unwarranted  power  of  the  cities  can  be  perpetu- 
ated only  when,  by  the  spoils  of  war,  there  is  ac- 
cumulated in  them  such  a  degree  of  wealth  as  to 
render  them  no  longer  dependent  upon  that  es- 
sential relation  they  hitherto  sustained  to  the 
whole  industrial  and  productive  forces  of  the  state. 
Yet,  unless  there  be  continued,  from  sources  be- 
yond the  state  itself,  accretions  of  wealth  to  the 
cities,  the  original  relation  of  the  urban  and  rural 
elements  out  of  which  it  evolved  would,  by  gradual 
readjustments,  be  again  restored.  The  effects  of 
this  unbalanced  relation  of  the  prime  productive 
forces  of  the  state  would  in  time  disappear,  leav- 
ing only  as  an  undesirable  residuum  a  modicum  of 
wealth  that  grew  not  out  of  its  innate  resources, 
and  the  far  more  dangerous  military  spirit  centred 
mainly  in  the  cities. 


Vice  of  Cities  83 

This  predatory  propensity  of  cities  has  perhaps 
never  been  more  manifest,  or  more  disastrously 
displayed,  than  in  the  hostile  relations  that  sub- 
sisted for  ages  between  a  multitude  of  city  states 
that  diversified  the  small  and  narrow  Grecian 
peninsula,  and  its  adjacent  and  ever  militant 
islands. 

The  equilibrium  of  the  salient  civic  forces  of  the 
people  could  have  been  as  effectively  unsettled 
by  the  evolution  of  its  martial  spirit,  if  the 
predatory  object  had  failed  of  its  purpose.  In 
this  case,  the  loss  entailed  by  any  unsuccessful 
attempt  would  fall  mainly  upon  the  cities,  where 
the  military  power  predominated.  This  would 
disturb  that  fixed  proportion  of  the  urban  and 
rural  wealth  and  other  forces  which  give  it  a 
degree  of  stability  before  the  rise  of  the  military 
spirit  of  the  cities. 

This  inequilibriimi  so  created  would  be  the 
more  speedily  removed  than  in  the  event  of  a  more 
triumphant  military  effort ;  since,  in  the  one  case, 
success  would  stimulate  an  aggressive  spirit  and 
thus  tend  to  maintain  the  disturbed  relation  of  the 
urban  and  the  rural  element  of  the  state,  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  its  military  ardor  would  be  re- 
pressed and  thus  tend  to  restore  the  essential 
harmony  and  established  proportions  of  its  vari- 


84  Rural  versus  Urban 

ous  civil  elements.  The  danger  arising  from  an 
undue  development  of  an  inordinate  martial 
spirit  in  a  nation  finds  a  signal  illustration  in  the 
ultimate  effects  of  the  laws  of  Lycurgus,  against 
which  his  institutions  failed  to  fully  safeguard 
the  Spartan  nation. 

Indeed,  so  essentially  did  they  exist  in  the 
very  spirit  and  the  necessary  outcome  of  their 
operations,  so  subtle  were  they  in  effect,  and  so 
obscure  in  form,  that  it  is  small  wonder  that  it 
escaped  the  penetrating  forecast  of  that  able  and 
astute  lawgiver.  It  is  admitted  by  all  historians 
that  there  was  realized  the  main  object  of  his 
institutions,  developing  the  fullest  equality  of  in- 
terests and  rights  of  the  people,  the  greatest 
nobility  of  character,  and  the  highest  civic  vir- 
tues attained  by  any  ancient  people. 

In  the  very  nature  of  his  polity,  the  rigidity  of 
his  laws,  their  severity  of  discipline,  the  creation  of 
that  dull  monotony  of  universal  equality  of  ma- 
terial interests  and  rights,  it  left  to  the  individual 
only  a  personal  aspiration  for  that  distinctive 
character  arising  from  honorable  effort  and 
noble  aims  achieved.  This  was  the  ultimate  ef- 
fect of  his  laws,  giving  to  the  Spartan  those  stem 
virtues  and  commanding  qualities,  so  envied  and 
feared  by  other  nations,  and  which  endured  as" 


Vice  of  Cities  85 

long  as  the  integrity  of  his  institutions  was  pre- 
served and  maintained,  and  ceased  only  when 
the  irrepressible  predatory  military  spirit  of  the 
people  burst  forth. 

By  the  very  spirit  of  those  laws  that  created 
these  high  civic  virtues,  long  the  honorable  char- 
acteristic of  the  people,  they  must,  as  a  necessary 
practical  effect,  ultimately  create  also  that  pre- 
datory military  spirit  and  power  so  long  wielded 
with  such  marvellous  force  by  that  nation.  The 
conciu-rent  development  of  that  marked  civic 
and  military  character  of  the  Spartan,  by  the 
effects  of  the  same  institutions,  at  last  brought 
the  ascendency  of  the  latter,  which  marks  the 
decline  and  final  passing  of  his  supremacy  long 
maintained  in  the  Hellenic  world.  But  it  was 
not  until  the  predatory  prevailed  over  the  purely 
martial  that  the  civic  virtues  were  subordinated 
to  the  military  spirit  and  power  of  the  nation. 

Thus,  even  when  the  wars  carried  on  by  their 
later  kings  and  generals  resulted  in  the  eventual 
capture  of  the  rich  and  powerful  city  of  Athens, 
their  ancient  virtues  still  subsisted  among  the 
people  in  such  vital  force  as  to  reject  the 
vast  and  tempting  spoils  of  war  as  dangerous  to 
the  stability  and  integrity  of  the  state.  Therefore 
when  Lysander  returned  from  the  conquest  of 


86  Rural  versus  Urban 

Athens,  freighted  with  the  rich  plunder  of  that 
city,  and  while  he  refused  to  personally  accept  a 
portion  of  the  corrupting  spoils,  having  carried 
the  gold  and  silver  of  Athens  to  Sparta,  it  was 
promptly  rejected  by  the  Spartans  as  so  much 
^'imported  ruin.''  By  a  rare  inconsistency,  it  was 
finally  determined  to  accept  the  silver  and  gold  of 
Athens  for  the  sole  uses  of  the  state,  imposing  at 
the  same  time  the  severest  penalty  upon  the  per- 
sonal use  of  it.  Thus  there  was  again  reintroduced 
the  virus  of  avarice  and  greed  among  the  people, 
so  long  secure  against  its  corrupting  power,  which 
finally  debased  the  heart,  sullied  the  purity  of 
the  government,  and  destroyed  the  nation  that 
for  centuries  held  such  a  dominant  and  honorable 
position  among  the  Grecian  states. 

You  will  pardon  me  if  I  indulge  in  what  may 
seem  somewhat  irrelevant,  but  yet  pertinent, 
reflections  upon  the  question  why  laws  similar 
in  nature  and  like  in  purpose  should  in  one 
nation  eminently  succeed,  and  in  another  as 
signally  fail,  in  their  object.  We  refer  espe- 
cially to  the  laws  given  to  Athens  by  Solon,  and 
those  by  Lycurgus  to  Sparta.  We  believe  that 
the  essential  cause  of  the  failure  of  the  one,  and 
the  success  of  the  other,  lies  in  the  wide  dif- 
ference in  the  industrial  and  productive  composi- 


Vice  of  Cities  87 

tion  of  the  two  cities  and  nations,  not  unlike  to 
that  we  have  been  considering. 

Both  the  Athenian  and  Spartan  lawgivers 
found  in  their  respective  cities  the  same  in- 
equality of  rights,  privileges,  and  power ;  and  a  like 
distinct  division  of  the  people  of  the  state  into  a 
small  dominant  nobility  on  the  one  hand,  and 
a  numerous  semi-enslaved  peasantry  and  prole- 
tariat on  the  other.  It  was  the  purpose  of  Solon 
and  Lycurgus  alike,  by  such  laws  and  institutions 
as  would  enlarge  the  rights  of  the  one  class  and 
reduce  the  privileges  of  the  other,  to  establish 
a  more  equable  distribution  of  civil  rights,  of 
political  power,  and  of  the  material  affairs  of  the 
whole  people.  Their  efforts  were  attended  with 
widely  different  results. 

Those  of  the  Athenian  only  accentuated  the 
very  evils  they  were  intended  to  remove,  and 
increased  the  measure  of  power  they  sought  to 
restrain;  while  those  of  the  Spartan  established,  on 
a  secure  basis,  the  just  and  co-ordinate  rights, 
powers,  and  interests  of  all  classes.  The  reforms 
of  the  Athenian  fell  into  immediate  desuetude, 
and  the  government  soon  passed  under  the 
sway  of  a  tyrant;  while  those  of  the  Spartan 
endured  with  unabated  vigor  and  virtue  for 
centuries. 


88  Rural  versus  Urban 

We  must  here  note  a  difference  in  the  material, 
industrial,  and  productive  status  of  the  two 
nations,  so  marked  as  in  a  measure  to  account 
for  legislative  results  so  dissimilar.  Both  Athens 
and  Sparta  were  the  capitalistic  centres  of  a 
definite  territory,  each  radiating,  throughout  their 
respective  domain,  their  political  and  other  in- 
fluences. The  population  of  the  Attic  state  was 
composed  of  the  usual  agricultiural  and  urban 
classes,  the  latter  centred  in  Athens  and  the 
smaller  towns  scattered  throughout  the  country. 
Laconia  was  similarly  constituted  as  respects  the 
division  and  diffusion  of  her  people;  but  it  dif- 
fered widely  from  that  of  the  Attic  state,  since, 
true  to  her  Doric  origin,  the  rural  population 
vastly  preponderated;  while  in  the  former  (from 
her  Ionic  descent),  the  urban  population  was 
correspondingly  in  excess. 

This  difference  in  proportion  of  the  agricultural 
to  the  whole  people  in  the  respective  nations  was 
due  wholly  to  the  fact  that  the  Attic  race  was 
essentially  a  commercial,  manufacturing,  and  trad- 
ing people,  while  that  of  Laconia  was  of  an  agri- 
cultural and  pastoral  character.  This  difference  in 
their  industrial  pursuits  was  clearly  reflected  in  the 
capitals  of  the  two  nations.  The  one  was  a  busy 
mart   of   trade,   commerce,   manufacturing,   and 


Vice  of  Cities  89 

industry;  the  other,  that  of  a  simpler,  less 
complex  character,  growing  out  of  the  dominant 
agricultural  and  rural  pursuits  in  Laconia,  with 
their  limited  and  peculiar  demands  and  necessities. 
Although  agriculture  possessed  some  relative  im- 
portance in  the  Attic  domain,  Athens  was  in  fact 
the  capital  of  a  trading,  manufacturing,  and  com- 
mercial, as  Sparta  was  that  of  an  agricultural, 
state. 

It  is  therefore  sufficient  to  note,  in  explanation 
of  the  failure  on  the  one  hand  and  the  success  on 
the  other,  of  a  like  salutary  system  of  laws,  that 
the  one  had  to  do  with  a  society  and  people 
where  the  urban  was  the  dominant  class,  and  the 
other  where  this  was  the  inferior,  and  the  rural 
was  the  ascendent  one. 

We  thus  discover  that,  in  the  defensive  and  pro- 
tective necessities  of  an  agricultural  and  pastoral 
people  that  draw  them  into  the  concentrated  form 
of  towns  and  cities,  there  exists  the  germ  that  if 
not  wisely  restrained  may  develop  into  an  undue 
militant  power,  that  may  indeed  bring  present  but 
temporary  weal,  but  is  more  certain  to  cause 
ultimate  and  lasting  woe  to  the  people.  This 
same  protective  necessity,  perhaps  aided  by  the 
legacy  of  the  warlike  spirit  of  her  founders,  grew 
into  that  masterful,  martial  sentiment  that  per- 


90  Rural  versus  Urban 

vaded  the  public  mind,  bringing  a  transient  glory 
and  success,  but  also  the  everlasting  ruin  of  the 
Roman  nation. 

Having  pointed  out  some  of  the  fundamental 
and  chief  causes  that  operate  to  create  the  ascend- 
ent power  of  the  cities,  it  would  be  a  needless 
elaboration  to  trace  the  influence  of  a  multitude 
of  less  conspicuous  though  definite  contributive 
causes  toward  establishing  this  unequal  power. 
But  we  feel  that  careful  consideration  should  be 
given  to  some,  that,  while  not  so  direct  or  distinct 
in  their  effects,  still  indirectly  and  insidiously 
contribute,  powerfully,  towards  the  creation  of 
that  unbalanced  power  of  the  rural  and  urban 
forces  so]  dangerous  to  the  security  and  stability 
of  the  state. 

Among  these  silent,  though  active  and  effective, 
agencies,  we  must  note  those  of  money,  manu- 
facturing, and  foreign  commerce.  That  they  are 
the  chief  instrimientalities  in  developing  an  undue 
preponderance  of  urban  power  is,  we  believe, 
largely  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  it  was  the  spe- 
cific limitations  of  these  active  creative  forces  of  a 
people  upon  which  the  Spartan  lawgiver  depended 
to  check  the  tendency  of  an  inordinate  growth  of 
the  urban  element  of  Laconia,  over  which  people 


Vice  of  Cities  91 

his  laws  prevailed.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to 
recur  to  the  marvellous  success  that  attended  his 
laws  for  centuries  as  sustaining  the  correctness  of 
his  poHty. 


VII 

MONEY,  MANUFACTURING,  AND 
FOREIGN  COMMERCE 

'T'HE  history  of  Sparta  shows  that  an  almost 
-'■  entire  absence  of  an  available  monetary 
medium,  such  as  was,  and  now  is,  held  to  be  indis- 
pensable to  realize  the  highest  productive  power 
of  a  nation,  was  not  incompatible  with  the  develop- 
ment of  a  people  possessed  of  the  highest  virtues, 
happiness,  and  a  commanding  power  and  position 
beyond  that  attained  by  any  of  the  Hellenic 
states. 

It  must  be  conceded  that  a  freely  circulating 
and  efficient  monetary  medium  may  usefully 
contribute  towards  a  ftiller  development  of  the 
resources  of  a  nation,  and  facilitate  a  just  dis- 
tribution of  the  results  of  the  people's  productive 
energies.  But  this  is  accomplished  only  when  it 
is,  by  incessant  vigilance,  held  to  the  rigid  per- 
formance of  its  special  and  appropriate  functions. 
Like  many  useful  instriiments  given  to  mankind 

to  further  their  happiness,  well  being,  and  moral 

92 


Money  and  Foreign  Commerce       93 

growth,  those  possessing  the  highest  innate  ca- 
pacity for  greatest  good  when  wisely  and  justly 
employed  in  their  purity,  have  in  their  perverted 
form  an  inverse  capacity  to  cause  evil  and  inflict 
injury. 

We  therefore  find  that  a  circulating  monetary 
medium,  while  possessing  the  power  to  further 
the  growth  of  productive  industries  and  effect  a 
freer  distribution  of  their  fruits,  can  become,  in 
the  hands  of  those  who  find  it  to  their  selfish  in- 
terests to  so  employ  it,  the  most  powerful  vehicle 
to  effect  an  unequal  and  unjust  distribution  of 
the  wealth  of  the  people. 

It  was,  no  doubt,  to  prevent  the  dangers  of  its 
perverted  use  among  the  Spartans  that  Lycurgus 
adopted  that  form  of  money  which  practically 
deprived  it  of  its  special  functions,  reducing  it  to 
such  an  unavailable  medium  as  rendered  it  in- 
nocuous in  the  hands  of  the  evil-minded.  The 
visible  presence  of  that  magic  power  embodied  in 
the  concrete  form  of  metallic  money,  no  doubt 
serves  to  develop  and  intensify  the  avarice  and 
greed  of  mankind.  The  blighting  influence  upon 
the  mind  and  soul  of  man  is  exemplified  in  the 
inordinate  passion  that  possesses  the  miser  to  en- 
large his  hoard  of  wealth.  He  no  longer  finds  a 
pleasure  in  regarding  its  power  of  exchange,  but 


94  Rural  versus  Urban 

his  sole  gratification  is  in  contemplating  the 
material  properties  of  his  lustrous  metallic  hoard, 
losing  all  desire  or  willingness  to  employ  it  in 
its  useful  functions  and  power,  which  was  the 
original  motive  that  impelled  him  to  its  accumula- 
tion through  deprivation  and  toil.  It  is,  we  be- 
lieve, a  just  inference  that  the  astute  Spartan 
lawgiver  sought  to  securely  bar  the  corrupting 
growth  of  so  fateful  a  passion  by  effectively  re- 
moving from  the  people  the  baleful  presence  of 
that  fetich  of  cupidity  and  greed.  This  he  fully 
effected  in  a  manner  most  admirable,  by  adopt- 
ing as  a  monetary  medium  a  metal  whose  bulk 
and  weight,  with  other  undesirable  qualities,  al- 
most precluded  its  use  as  a  circulating  medium. 

That  the  adoption  of  iron  as  this  medium  was 
voluntary,  and  did  not  grow  out  of  necessity,  is 
sufficiently  shown  by  the  fact  that,  at  the  time  he 
gave  his  laws  to  Sparta,  there  was  throughout 
all  the  nations  an  abundance  of  copper,  silver,  and 
gold,  whose  bulk  and  other  attractive  properties, 
together  with  their  general  and  constant  use  in  the 
arts  and  for  articles  of  luxury — then  as  now — 
constituted  them  the  most  perfect  form  of  a  cir- 
culating medium  available  to  man. 

The  two  essential  attributes  of  money  are  those 
of  a  measure  of  value  and  of  a  freely  circulating 


Money  and  Foreign  Commerce       95 

medium  of  exchange.  Therefore,  in  the  selec- 
tion of  such  a  medium,  from  the  necessities,  the 
extent,  and  the  intricate  conditions  of  trade  and 
exchange,  it  must  be  Hmited  to  those  substances 
that  are  at  once  the  most  readily  available  and 
universally  acceptable.  These  two  requisites 
caused  mankind  to  early  adopt  those  metals  as 
a  monetary  medium  whose  utility,  as  well  as 
constancy  of  production  and  possession  of  the 
greatest  exchangeable  power  in  the  smallest  com- 
pass and  weight,  rendered  them  most  eminently 
suited  for  that  purpose.  We  therefore  in  the 
earliest  times  find  copper,  silver,  and  gold  per- 
forming this  function,  being  those  metals  for 
which  there  was  the  largest  and  steadiest  de- 
mand to  meet  the  necessities  and  luxuries  of 
life,  and,  at  the  same  time,  being  of  the  most 
exchangeable  form.  All  media  of  exchange,  hav- 
ing no  other  value  than  that  of  a  useful  one — to 
meet  the  primary  necessities  of  life — must  in  their 
representative  value  be  largely  in  the  nature  of 
funded  energies  to  produce  them. 

As  all  things  exist  in  relation  only,  there  is 
an  essential  one  between  a  monetary  medium 
and  those  things  to  which  it  stands  in  the  capa- 
city of  a  measure  of  their  value.  As  this  has 
no  other  basis  than  the  average  expenditure  of 


96  Rural  versus  Urban 

htiman  energies  to  produce  them,  their  relation 
is,  in  essence,  that  of  funded  energies.  As  in 
virtue  of  their  very  nature  and  conditions  of 
production  one  represents  a  more  uniform  and 
constant  product  of  labor  than  the  other,  and 
possesses  as  well  cumulative  attributes  (a  capacity- 
wanting  in  the  other  by  reason  of  its  transitory 
and  destructible  nature),  there  arise  in  the  gen- 
eral field  of  production  such  complex  and  diverse 
conditions  as  to  preclude  a  fixed  relation  between 
a  measuring  medium  and  those  things  to  which 
it  is  appHed  in  that  capacity. 

It  is,  of  necessity,  in  the  quantitative  relation 
alone  that  we  find  their  reciprocal  values,  since  the 
value  of  a  circulating  mediimi  is  quite  as  much 
measured  by  a  related  quantity  of  dissimilar 
products,  as  they  themselves  are  measured  by  the 
quantity  of  a  correlative  medium.  It  is  mani- 
fest that  in  a  trade  operation,  in  its  final  and  com- 
pleted form,  it  is  as  much  the  essence  of  it,  that  a 
given  number  of  bushels  of  grain  purchased  a 
given  number  of  ounces  of  gold  or  silver,  as  that 
the  gold  or  silver  purchased  the  grain. 

All  the  products  of  human  energy,  therefore, 
other  than  those  qualified  as  a  circulating  medium, 
in  reality,  as  distinctly  measure  the  value  of  those 
products  of  labor,  suited  for  monetary  uses,  as 


Money  and  Foreign  Commerce       97 

they  are  conversely  measured  by  the  monetary 
medium.  It  is  evidently  as  valid  an  expression 
for  a  man  to  say,  that  his  grain  bought  so  many 
ounces  of  gold  or  silver,  as  to  say  that  he  sold  so 
many  bushels  of  grain.  This  is  evident  from  the 
fact  that  the  increase  or  diminution  in  the  quan- 
tity of  either  in  a  given  period  is  at  once  followed 
by  an  exact  correspondence  in  the  reciprocal 
purchasing  power  in  terms  of  the  other,  in  perfect 
accord  with  the  respective  increase  or  decrease 
in  the  quantity  of  either. 

It  is  in  the  relative  quantity  of  both  products  of 
labor  (the  monetary  medium  and  those  that  are 
measured  by  it)  that  there  lies  the  dangerous 
power  of  using  either  as  a  means  of  effecting  a 
distribution  of  wealth  not  in  accord  with  the  just 
rights  of  the  producers,  but  such  as  to  gratify  the 
selfish  desires  and  avarice  of  individual  or  class. 
An  unequal  power,  in  such  unjust  use,  neces- 
sarily exists  in  the  more  portable  and  available 
form  of  the  one  class  of  products  over  the  other, 
and  it  is  therefore  more  generally  the  practice  of 
those  predatory  operations  to  employ  the  mone- 
tary medium  as  the  agent  to  vary  at  will  the  value 
of  unlike  products,  although  the  reverse  operation 
is  frequent. 

It    is    in   the   capacity   of   both   for  artificial 


98  Rural  versus  Urban 

manipulation  that  selfishness  finds  the  means,  and 
greed  the  opportunities.  To  artificially  increase 
or  diminish  the  quantity  of  either  and  to  conve- 
niently effect  a  rise  or  fall  of  value  in  terms  of  the 
other,  with  almost  as  much  certainty  as  if  this 
variation  in  quantity  had  been  the  result  of 
natural  causes,  is  daily  illustrated  in  the  money 
market  of  New  York  and  the  grain  pit  of  Chicago. 
It  is  the  increase  or  diminution  of  the  readily 
available  medium  of  exchange  in  monetary  cen- 
tre's (the  cities)  that  temporarily  produces  an  in- 
crease or  decrease  in  the  relative  exchange  value 
of  all  commodities  throughout  the  nation;  and, 
similarly,  the  creation  of  an  artificial  increase  or 
decrease  in  the  readily  available  quantity  of 
agricultural  products  in  the  grain  centres  of  the 
country  (again  in  the  cities)  that  in  a  like  manner 
causes  a  corresponding  rise  or  fall  in  the  relative 
exchange  value  in  terms  of  a  circulating  medium  of 
agricultural  values  throughout  the  country.  In 
fact,  those  odious  manipulations  of  the  available 
quantity  of  monetary  media,  or  the  other  products 
of  human  labor,  constitute  in  essence  those  ab- 
normal excrescences  on  the  healthy  economic 
body  known,  when  in  a  mild  form,  as  quick 
market  turns,  or,  when  of  pronounced  character, 
as  corners,  with  their  predatory  gains. 


Money  and  Foreign  Commerce       99 

It  must  be  distinctly  noted,  that  it  is  in  the 
cities  alone  that  these  manipulative  methods  can 
arise,  or  be  successfully  executed.  It  is  therefore 
in  the  cities  that  all  the  advantages  and  gains 
due  to  these  artificial  and  abnormal  methods  are 
centred  with  their  exclusive  avails ;  and  it  is  upon 
the  rural  element  of  the  nation  that  the  injury 
and  loss  must,  eventually,  largely  fall.  It  is  in 
the  cities  alone  that  all  the  financial  forces  of 
the  nation  can  be  fully  and  adequately  wielded; 
and  whatever  advantages  (and  they  are  legion) 
arise  out  of  the  exclusive  control  of  this  mightiest 
lever  of  trade  known  to  man  wholly  accrue  to 
them.  One  is  almost  appalled  when  he  contem- 
plates the  possible  overwhelming  advantages  that 
may  be  enjoyed  by  the  cities  by  a  corrupted  use 
of  an  agent  so  omnipotent,  and  upon  which  the 
relative  exchangeable  values  of  the  whole  produc- 
tive power  of  a  nation  depend,  and  by  which  they 
may  be  arbitrarily  determined. 

The  pantheistic  religion,  with  its  primary  defi- 
nite concepts  and  limitations,  was  the  primitive 
faith,  long  swaying  the  mind  and  controlling  the 
heart  of  mankind,  and  directing  the  members 
of  the  human  family  in  all  the  varied  forms  of 
related  life.  In  the  contemplation  of  the  special 
and  concrete  character  of  supernal  powers,  they 


100  Rural  versus  Urban 

saw  the  visible  universe  everywhere  under  the 
special  domain  of  an  appropriate  and  protective 
deity.  The  nation,  and  each  city,  had  its  tutelar 
god ;  the  seas,  the  ocean,  the  land,  and  the  woods, 
even  the  trees  themselves,  were  the  abode  of  a 
ruling  guardian  or  sylvan  deity. 

So  deeply  was  the  human  mind  penetrated  by 
the  belief  that  there  dwelt  in  the  visible  forms  of 
natuxe  a  guiding  and  protective  invisible  power, 
that  there  arose  a  kindred  belief  that  each 
individual  was  under  the  special  care  of  some 
intangible  personality,  ever  hovering  near.  Even 
the  philosophic  mind  of  the  great  Socrates  was 
swayed  more  by  the  silent  promptings  of  his  ever 
attending  daemon  than  by  his  logical  formulae. 

When  this  compHcated  theogony  was  sup- 
planted by  the  simpler  and  purer  forms  of  a  more 
monotheistic  faith,  with  its  indefinite  and  less 
concrete  concepts,  its  all-pervading,  infinite,  and 
tmiversal  essence,  those  beliefs  in  special  forms  of 
deistic  power  remained  in  the  minds  of  men  in 
the  vague  superstition  that  a  guiding  fate  waits 
on  all  mankind.  It  is  from  the  desire  to  obtain 
the  favors  of  this  hidden  fate  that  ever  attends  the 
fortunes  of  mankind,  that  all  organized  forms  of 
chance  arise,  the  blind  pursuit  of  which  too  often 
ends  in  an  enslaving  mania.     This  mode,  so  to 


Money  and  Foreign  Commerce      loi 

speak,  of  winning  the  benign  smiles  of  a  tutelar 
fate  was  once  limited  to  the  pure  and  intangible 
realms  of  chance.  It  has  been  reserved  for  these 
more  modern  times  to  extend  her  worship  into 
almost  all  the  natiiral  and  material  affairs  of 
human  life. 

So  widely  and  rapidly  have  the  rites  and 
votaries  of  this  mystic  goddess  extended  and 
grown,  that  it  threatens  to  subvert  and  supplant 
all  those  forms,  rules,  and  principles  of  business 
and  trade  so  long  and  so  well  based  upon  natural 
laws  and  necessities,  and  directed  by  the  higher 
influences  of  pure  ethical  maxims  and  principles. 
In  whatsoever  manner  we  may  attempt  to  define 
it  otherwise,  those  untold  millions  that  represent 
the  daily  speculative  ventures  in  the  world's 
trading  marts  (the  cities)  are  in  fact  and  essence 
simply  offerings  upon  the  altar  of  this  capricious 
goddess — the  most  dangerous  deity  yet  wor- 
shipped by  man.  When  these  great  games  of 
chance  are  played  in  the  financial,  economic,  and 
industrial  world,  they  are  always  to  be  deplored, 
even  when  rigidly  confined  to,  and  limited  by, 
the  conditions  and  laws  that  in  their  occult  power 
inflexibly  determine  the  final  result.  But  when 
this  may  be,  as  it  only  too  often  is,  determined 
by  artificial  conditions  created  by  the  cunning 


UNIVERSITY  OP  CALIFORNIA 

ClAMTA    RARRARA    rrYT  T  l^VllT  T  TTJR  A  W"V 


102  Rural  versus  Urban 

and  crafty  devices  of  men  for  personal  advan- 
tages, there  arises  such  a  menace  to  all  sound  and 
honest  methods  of  trade  as  not  only  to  vitiate 
the  whole  economic  body  of  the  nation,  but  to 
endanger  and  even  subvert  the  moral  Hfe  of  the 
people. 

We  have  shown  that  in  all  things  inherently 
good,  along  with  the  benefits  that  arise  to  the 
human  race  by  their  proper  and  appropriate  use, 
there  inheres  also,  even  in  a  larger  degree,  the 
capacity  for  greater  abuse  and  misdirection  of 
its  true  functions,  inflicting  upon  mankind  an 
aggregate  of  injuries  in  excess  of  the  blessings 
wrought  by  them.  If,  as  many  believe,  the  trend 
of  human  nature  is  rather  towards  evil  than  good, 
can  we  regard  as  an  unmixed  blessing  all  those 
admired  instruments  to  facilitate  and  multiply 
effort,  and  which  have  the  innate  capacity  for 
greater  misuse  than  right  use,  leaving  in  the 
totality  of  their  effects  greater  evil  than  good? 
Is  it  not,  therefore,  a  problem  in  the  realm  of 
ethics  yet  to  be  solved,  whether  there  is  to  be  a 
moral  and  intellectual  advancement  of  the  human 
family  conformable  to  the  increased  intensity, 
scope,  and  volume  of  its  physical  activities,  as  the 
result  of  those  aids? 

Again  we  must  point  out  that  it  is  in  the  cities 


Money  and  Foreign  Commerce     103 

alone  that  there  can  be  exercised,  fully  and  avail- 
ably, those  dangerous  appliances  so  capable  of 
being  perverted  to  a  local  or  selfish  gain.  Is 
it  not  predicating  an  unwarranted  and  even 
impossible  altruism  that,  of  the  vast  benefits 
secured  to  the  cities  by  special  advantages  so 
overwhelming,  an  equal  part  would  be  returned 
to  where  it  originated  and  from  whence  it  was 
drawn?  The  history  of  cities  does  not  show  a 
development  of  moral  character  commensurate 
with  the  growth  of  power,  wealth,  intelligence, 
refinement,  and  culture.  Rather  the  reverse;  for 
do  they  not  often  mark  that  period  of  highest 
corruption  and  least  moral  coherence,  in  fact, 
a  last  degeneracy,  which  ushers  in  a  fatal  and 
rapid  decay,  extending  also  throughout  the  whole 
sphere  of  their  influence?  Was  not  Athens,  at 
the  very  pinnacle  of  her  wealth,  refinement,  and 
culture,  torn  by  intestine  strifes  that  arose  from 
the  contentions  of  two  of  her  greatest,  most 
powerful  statesmen  and  purists,  as  to  who  should 
possess  the  person  of  a  beautiful  Greek  youth? 
It  is  a  problem  for  the  future  ethnologist  to  pon- 
der, whether  the  world  is  not  to  become  wholly 
an  aggregate  of  cities.  If  such  be  the  tendency, 
is  it  not  an  extreme  chance  that,  with  this  crys- 
tallization of  the  human  family,  there  will  develop 


I04  Rural  versus  Urban 

also  that  higher  ethical  character  necessary  to 
its  preservation? 

The  manufacturing  and  commercial  activities 
of  a  nation  being  so  closely  related  in  their  gen- 
eral effects  upon  its  entire  trade  and  industries, 
we  will  consider  them  in  a  relation  of  concurrent 
causes  tending  to  create  in  the  cities  a  power  and 
wealth  not  commensurate  with,  or  bearing  a 
consistent  relation  to,  all  the  industrial  forces 
and  energies  exercised,  that  are  germane  to  and 
within  the  limits  of  the  nation.  We  have  noted 
that,  out  of  a  natural  and  duly  correlated  in- 
teraction within  a  body  of  varied  productive 
factors,  there  would  theoretically  arise,  as  a 
consequence,  a  stable,  economic  state  in  which 
exists  a  just  commtmion  of  all  its  parts,  the 
necessary  result  of  a  natural,  full,  and  free 
operation  of  the  entire  creative  forces  of  the 
whole  people. 

As  a  definite  cause  serving  to  create  an  inequi- 
librium  of  the  constituent  industrial  members 
comprised  in,  and  deranging,  the  well-adjusted 
parts  of  an  economic  body,  we  will  consider  the 
effects  of  extending  the  internal  forces  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  nation  itself.  This  will,  as  you  may 
apprehend,  involve  in  its  scope  an  inquiry  into 


Money  and  Foreign  Commerce      105 

the  general  relation  of  one  people,  as  a  whole, 
with  another.  Further,  it  is  but  to  trace  those 
causes  and  influences  that  operate  to  carry  the 
industrial  energies,  hitherto  regarded  as  confined 
to  the  nation  only,  into  spheres  beyond  those 
heretofore  engaging  our  attention. 

In  the  field  of  human  production,  the  ultimate 
and  definite  result  of  all  interchanges  and  ex- 
changes is,  in  fact,  simply  that  of  the  special 
products  of  labor,  each  final  one  being  determined 
by  what  is  foiind  to  be  productive  of  the  greatest 
mutual  benefits.  Thus  it  is  possible,  as  you  must 
perceive,  that  there  may  arise  between  two  or 
more  nations,  through  a  naturally  developed  ef- 
ficient means  of  intercourse,  a  like  trade-relation 
between  them,  wherein  the  free  and  unobstructed 
exchange  of  their  respective  products  may  be  ef- 
fected, on  such  terms  and  under  such  conditions, 
as  to  realize  even  a  larger  reciprocal  benefit  than 
that  which  would  have  been  derived  had  such 
exchanges  been  made  within  their  own  domestic 
spheres.  So  long  as  the  trade  relations  between 
separate  nations  subsists  from  normal  laws  and 
causes,  there  can  be  no  disturbance  in  the  harmony 
and  equal  adjustment  of  the  internal  parts  of 
either,  as  all  being  alike  favorably  affected,  their 
correct  balance  will  in  no  wise  be  unsettled,  but 


io6  Rural  versus  Urban 

fully  maintained.  It  is  in  the  spirit  of  self- 
aggrandizement,  that  seems  to  possess  and  control 
all  mankind,  prompting  him  ever  to  realize  a 
personal  advantage  at  the  general  expense,  that 
we  can  trace  the  true  impiilse  that  causes  him  to 
seek  individual  gain  by  deflecting  the  natural 
forces  of  trade  and  industry  into  artificial  and 
special  channels.  Those  trade-laws,  therefore, 
that  in  the  integrity  of  their  influence  and  opera- 
tion produce  only  mutual  benefits  to  all  the 
internal  interests  of  the  respective  nations,  can 
become  by  their  corrupt  exercise  the  most  power- 
ful instrument  of  selfishness  to  effect  an  unjust 
and  unequal  distribution  of  the  fair  rewards  of 
domestic  labor.  The  diversion  of  the  laws  of 
exchange  from  their  proper  or  natural  channels, 
that  operate  only  for  the  general  good  of  all  alike, 
into  the  special  service  of  individuals  or  classes,  can 
be  effected  solely  by  a  dominant,  arbitrary,  and 
interested  political  power  in  the  state,  as  no  class 
can  be  conceived  of  as  voluntarily  imposing  dis- 
advantageous laws,  disabilities,  and  restraining 
conditions  upon  itself.  We  have  seen  how,  in 
the  very  nature  of  the  concentrated  form  of  man- 
kind in  cities,  there  evolves  a  superior  political 
power  in  those  nations  where  agriculture  is  carried 
on  in  its  more  primitive  forms.     So  great  is  this 


Money  and  Foreign  Commerce     107 

crystallized  power  in  the  cities,  so  vital  are  its  con- 
centrated energies,  that  a  supreme  sovereignty  in 
the  economic  affairs  of  a  nation  may  be  attained 
by  the  cities;  and  this,  too,  even  where  the  agri- 
cultural and  rural  element  may  far  transcend, 
in  numbers  and  importance,  the  combined  urban 
element  of  the  nation.  Even  more;  this  may 
occur  when  this  more  virile  and  active  urban 
power  is  translated  into  legislative  enactments 
that  operate  to  the  direct  manifest  benefit  of 
the  urban,  and  as  directly  to  the  injury  of  the 
rural  portion,  so  great  becomes  the  power  of  the 
demagogue. 

It  is  proper  to  here  point  out  the  specific  ef- 
fects of  laws  that  operate  to  the  advantage  of 
special  interests  and  classes,  by  and  for  whose 
benefit  they  were  enacted.  Following  the  same 
essential  tendency  of  natural  laws  that  govern 
and  direct  an  equable  material  distribution  within 
the  nations  themselves  of  labor's  products,  there 
is  in  their  free  action  a  like  distribution  of  these 
products  of  one  nation  with  another.  This,  we 
have  seen,  may  be  productive  of  mutual  advan- 
tages between  the  nations  when  their  intercourse 
is  governed  by  mutual  and  just  trade-relations. 
By  the  concensus  of  many  special  and  acquired 
advantages  facilitating  production  (and  intrinsic 


io8  Rural  versus  Urban 

in  the  several  nations),  it  is  possible  for  different 
nations  to  produce  those  things,  by  the  mutual 
exchange  of  which,  each  may  realize  a  special 
benefit.  It  is  in  the  obstruction  of  the  free  action, 
and  the  diversion  from  their  proper  legitimate 
channels  of  the  distributive  forces  of  trade  for 
distinct  and  specific  advantages,  that  there  have 
grown  up  those  disturbed  relations  in  the  internal 
productive  energies  and  factors  of  the  two  greatest 
commercial  nations  that  may  ultimately  test  the 
vitality  of  their  governments. 

We  will  trace  at  greater  length  and  detail  the 
nature  and  extent  of  these  influences  in  the  one, 
since  the  other  is  affected  in  a  less  degree  by  the 
same  equally  definite,  though  less  complex,  causes. 
In  doing  this,  we  will  take  occasion  to  point  out 
how  exceptional  natural  conditions  may  become 
the  indirect  agency  whereby  a  more  marked  and 
inequable  distribution  of  the  internal  forces  of  a 
people  may  be  artificially  accomplished. 


VIII 

TRADE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES 

IN  tracing  the  development  of  the  industrial 
^  affairs  of  the  United  States,  we  find  that, 
during  the  whole  history  of  the  country  down  to 
the  middle  of  the  last  century,  their  advance  was 
measurably  imder  no  limitations  or  aids,  save 
those  imposed  or  yielded  by  natural  laws  and 
advantages. 

In  virtue  of  the  special,  and  in  some  manner 
distinctive,  nature  of  the  products  of  the  soil, 
which  alone  could  meet  the  world's  wants  and 
necessities,  she  was  guaranteed  a  full  demand  and 
absorption  of  any  possible  supply.  The  agri- 
cultural interests  of  the  United  States,  therefore, 
became  and  remained  the  paramount  one,  as  it 
ever  must  be  where  normal  trade  and  productive 
conditions  are  permitted  to  prevail.  To  the 
domestic  demand  for  those  special  products  of  her 
lands  there  being  added,  by  the  inherent  neces- 
sities of  other  countries,  a  steady  and  large  foreign 

109 


no  Rural  versus  Urban 

demand,  it  gave  to  the  agricultiire  of  the  United 
States  such  predominance  in  the  industrial  af- 
fairs of  the  nation  as  could  not  have  been  ac- 
quired had  not  some  of  the  products  been  of  a 
peculiar,  even  exclusive,  character.  As  there  had, 
as  yet,  not  grown  up  any  discriminating  legislative 
measures  or  other  factitious  influences,  the  re- 
lation of  the  agricultural  to  the  other  industrial 
and  productive  forces  of  the  state  was  a  natural 
and,  therefore,  an  equable  one.  This  coequal  re- 
lation of  agriculture  to  the  whole  body  of  pro- 
duction continued  so  long  as  no  discriminating 
laws  were  permitted  to  influence,  by  their  partial 
action,  any  of  the  productive  powers  of  the  entire 
national  energy. 

As  might  be  inferred,  we  therefore  discover  that 
the  growth  of  the  urban  and  rural  sections  re- 
spectively, during  that  period,  was,  pari  passu,  at 
an  even  pace  with  that  of  the  entire  country. 
This  just  equilibriimi  of  the  various  cardinal  fac- 
tors of  trade  and  industrial  forces  of  the  nation  was 
seciirely  perpetuated  by  the  fact  that,  prior  to  the 
Civil  War,  the  consolidated  agricultural  interests 
of  the  South  being  joined  with  those  of  the  North 
(then  possessed  of  large  legislative  force),  there 
was  created  an  effective  bulwark  in  the  legisla- 
tive halls  of  the  country  against  the  encroach- 


Trade  Development  of  United  States  1 1 1 

ment  of  the  urban  power,  that  later  broke  out 
with  such  violence  and  with  effects  so  serious 
to  the  agriculture  of  the  whole  country. 

The  composition  of  the  legislative  power  in  the 
United  States  was,  therefore,  in  i860,  much  the 
same  as  at  the  present  time  exists  in  the  law- 
making power  of  France,  which  so  effectively 
preserves  that  well-balanced  relation  of  all  her 
cardinal  industrial  interests.  The  limits  to  the 
growth  of  her  agriculture  were  those  imposed 
by  nature  only, — the  quality  of  the  soil,  the  facil- 
ity with  which  the  cultivable  area  of  lands  could 
be  extended,  and  a  demand  for  its  products. 
There  did  not  exist,  in  the  United  States,  that 
impediment  which  so  seriously  obstructed  the 
expansion  of  agriculture  in  other  new  countries 
arising  out  of  an  effective  occupation  of  lands  by  a 
numerous,  militant,  and  indigenous  people.  The 
sole  problem  was  how  rapidly  man  could,  by  his 
efforts,  effect  a  conquest  of  those  obstacles  that 
nature  interposed,  being  mainly  the  perennial 
forests  that  covered  the  lands  which  were  to  be 
the  field  of  his  future  operations. 

We  have  here  to  point  out  a  conjunction  of  the 
most  powerful  causes  that  can  operate  to  produce 
an  unequal  apportionment  of  the  industrial  re- 
wards of  a  people,  one  being  natural  and  the  other 


112  Rural  versus  Urban 

artificial  in  character.  It  has  been  noted  that, 
where  the  urban  and  rural  sections  develop  alike 
under  nature's  limitations  only,  there  is,  as  an 
essential  result,  corresponding,  definite,  and  fixed 
relations  between  them. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  history  of  the 
United  States,  the  growth  of  her  agriculture  was 
determined  by  the  rapidity  with  which  the  small 
strips  of  fertile  land,  that  lay  as  a  narrow  border 
along  her  watercourses,  and  the  larger  areas 
covered  by  primal  forests,  could  be  reclaimed  and 
reduced  to  the  uses  of  man.  But  as  these  condi- 
tions were  general  throughout  the  country,  as  well 
as  universally  uniform  and  constant,  the  progres- 
sive growth  of  agriculture  was,  in  like  manner, 
of  a  regular  and  uniform  character.  As  the 
mutually  dependent  urban  interest  could  expand 
in  an  equal  ratio  only,  there  could  be  no  sud- 
den or  radical  accessions  of  growth  possible  in 
either,  such  as  was  calculated  to  disturb  the 
order  of  that  fixed  relation  which  subsisted 
between  them. 

It  was  in  the  middle  decades  of  the  last  century 
that  there  suddenly  arose  that  coincidence  of 
exceptional  conditions,  both  natural  and  artifi- 
cial, the  combined  abnormal  influence  of  which 
dislocated    all   those  forces    of   production    and 


Trade  Development  of  United  States  113 

exchange,  the  outgrowth  of  centimes  of  labor  on 
natural  lines.  This  resulted  in  a  distribution  of 
wealth,  vicious  in  nature,  and  of  a  character 
inimical  to  a  just  co-ordination  of  the  nation's 
productive  energies. 

In  the  steady  westward  march  of  agriculture  in 
the  United  States,  its  advance  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  retarded  by  the  uniform  impedimenta  under 
which  it  developed  and  which  impeded  its  pro- 
gress, until  it  reached  the  eastern  confines  of  the 
great  plains  and  prairies  of  Illinois,  which  pre- 
sented unique  characteristics  hitherto  unknown 
to  the  agriculturists.  The  farmer  of  the  East,  in 
his  life  labors,  being  familiar  with  those  conditions 
where  he  found  his  reward  only  in  the  conquest  of 
the  forest,  looked  with  amazement  on  the  illimit- 
able sea  of  open  fertile  lands  ready  to  receive  his 
labor,  stretching  in  billowy  forms  indefinitely  be- 
fore him.  His  hesitation  to  advance  into  regions 
so  singular  and  in  such  marked  contrast  with 
a  lifelong  experience  was  akin  to  that  of  the 
mariner,  who,  on  the  shores  of  an  unknown  sea, 
pauses  ere  he  commits  himself  to  the  undiscovered 
perils  be3^ond.  This  is  clearly  evidenced  by  the 
fact  that  the  early  settlers  of  the  great  prairies 
of  Illinois  first  sought  the  watercourses,  with 
their  narrow  belt  of  timber,  even  as  their  fathers 


114  Rural  versus  Urban 

before  them  from  the  East,  sought  the  valleys  of 
the  Scioto,  the  Miami,  and  the  Wabash. 

But  this  was  only  momentary;  for,  with  the 
passing  of  his  illusions  and  fears,  and  with  the 
active  aid  of  the  Government  by  liberal  grants, 
subventions,  and  other  special  favors,  there 
was  speedily  wrought  a  marked  transformation 
throughout  the  vast  fertile  domain,  as  if  by  the 
magician's  wand.  The  wide  expanse  of  prairie 
lands  was  ready  to  yield  its  hidden  and  hoarded 
wealth  to  the  eager  touch  of  man.  Railways  and 
other  means  of  transportation  quickly  threaded 
this  entire  region,  burdened  with  its  latent  wealth. 
Cities  arose  as  if  spontaneously  springing  from  the 
soil,  and  myriads  of  farms  covered  in  the  briefest 
time  the  recently  unproductive  waste,  the  home 
only  of  the  buffalo  and  the  Indian.  The  astonished 
agriculturist  of  the  East  saw  created,  almost  in  a 
day,  as  if  by  magic,  farms  of  greater  productive 
capacity  than  those  that  required  generations  of 
patient  toil  to  produce  under  the  conditions  he  had 
hitherto  uniformly  encountered. 

In  other  directions,  this  rapid  development  of 
agriculture  produced  effects  direct,  immediate,  and 
decisive.  It  quickened  the  cities  and  cognate 
manufacturing  centres  into  an  unaccustomed  ac- 
tivity, to  supply  the  new  demand  for  the  material 


Trade  Development  of  United  States  115 

needs  of  this  sudden  expansion;  it  vivified  and 
enriched  the  centres  of  finance  and  capital,  and  the 
arteries  of  transportation  throughout  the  nation 
throbbed  with  a  congested  flow  of  a  remunera- 
tive traffic.  This  gave  to  the  urban  interests,  as  a 
whole,  such  stirring  activity,  such  rapid  acces- 
sions of  life  and  industry  as  had  never  been  wit- 
nessed or  could  have  been  anticipated  as  possible 
in  the  previous  history  of  the  slow,  though  steady, 
march  of  agriculture. 

But  the  farmer  of  the  East,  who  saw  his  small 
holdings  slowly  expand  for  more  than  a  generation 
by  a  yearly  addition  of  only  a  few  acres,  carved 
through  patient  toil  out  of  the  surroimding  forest, 
was  dismayed  at  the  fatal  result  foreshadowed  in 
an  unequal  contest  wherein  his  own  little  farm, 
burdened  with  generations  of  accumulated  in- 
vestment, was  to  be  arrayed  against  the  broad, 
fertile  acres  of  one  who  acquired  his  holdings  at  a 
nominal  cost,  and  whose  further  investments  were 
fully  represented  by  the  rude  hovel  in  which  he 
dwelt,  and  by  the  few  implements  with  which  he 
tilled  the  soil. 

From  this  vast  and  abrupt  increase  of  agri- 
cultural productive  power,  there  followed  an 
effect  signal  and  far-reaching.  The  speedy  en- 
richment  of    the   cities,    through   the   interests 


ii6  Rural  versus  Urban 

peculiar  to  them,  by  this  sudden  augmentation 
of  the  nation's  agriculture,  caused  them  to  look 
wistfully  for  other  and  larger  fields  in  which  like 
reserve  resources  existed,  whereby  there  might  be 
renewed,  even  in  a  more  successful  manner,  that 
experience  they  had  enjoyed  in  the  sudden  de- 
velopment of  the  prairie  and  plain  lands  of 
Illinois,  redoimding  so  powerfully  to  their  special 
and  direct  advantage. 

Again,  they  foimd  their  opportimity  in  the  al- 
most boundless  plain  and  prairie  regions,  stretch- 
ing beyond  the  Mississippi  River,  in  whose  vague 
and  indefinite  compass  there  lay,  in  the  soil, 
stores  of  fabled  wealth  awaiting  only  their  elec- 
tric touch  to  yield  again  a  golden  reward  by  its 
bounteous  outflow.  Nor  did  the  event  fail  to 
confirm  their  most  extravagant  expectations.  By 
government  explorations  and  surveys  there  was, 
in  little  time  enough,  revealed  a  region  that,  for 
extent  and  fertility  of  soil,  far  surpassed  their 
most  florid  dreams,  and  was  scarcely  realized 
even  by  the  pioneers  that  trecked  their  way 
across  its  trackless  waste  toward  the  gold  fields 
of  California. 

Defined  briefly,  it  is  a  contiguous  area  of  land 
that  for  extent,  richness  of  soil,  physical  character- 
istics  favoring   the   speediest   reclamation,    and 


Trade  Development  of  United  States  117 

capacity  for  varied  products,  finds  no  parallel  on 
the  globe.  Generally  speaking,  it  extends  from 
the  Canadian  territory  to  the  Gulf,  and  indefi- 
nitely towards  the  Rocky  Mountains,  far  towards 
the  limits  of  the  Temperate  Zone  in  the  North, 
and  almost  to  its  borders  in  the  South.  In  the 
southern  portion,  therefore,  the  culture  of  cotton 
reaches  its  greatest  perfection  throughout  a  large 
area.  In  the  middle  and  northern  portion,  the 
winter  and  spring  varieties  of  wheat  find  their 
true  and  congenial  home,  and  there  is  contained 
within  its  ample  compass  perhaps  one  third  of 
all  the  possible  Indian-corn  lands  on  the  globe. 
Throughout  its  whole  area,  varieties  of  other 
cereals  grow  in  profusion,  and  the  less  cultivable 
lands  were  covered  with  a  rich  and  exuberant 
herbage.  It  is  small  wonder,  therefore,  that  with 
an  avidity  electrified  by  a  quick  and  rapid  en- 
richment that  flowed  from  the  more  limited 
prairies  of  Illinois,  the  cities  should  cast  covetous 
eyes  upon  a  domain  possessing  latent  potentiali- 
ties of  an  almost  exhaustless  wealth,  and  so  rich 
in  opportunities  for  special  and  individual 
aggrandizement. 


IX 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRANS-MISSISSIPPI 
LANDS 

'T'HE  unparalleled  rapidity  with  which  this 
■*  marvellous  region  was  developed,  causing  so 
great  a  commotion  in  the  industrial  and  financial 
atmosphere  of  the  United  States,  and  in  only  a 
less  degree  in  other  nations,  marks  what  is  per- 
haps the  one  startling  economic  phenomenon  of 
modem  times.  As  such,  it  should  be  critically 
considered,  to  trace  not  only  the  varied  causes 
leading  to  this  development,  but  the  entire  course 
of  its  vital,  disturbing  influence  that  swept  with 
such  violence  over  the  whole  field  of  established 
industry.  This  inquiry,  for  the  purposes  we  have 
in  consideration,  can  be  covered  by  a  period  ex- 
tending from  i860  to  the  beginning  of  the  present 
century.  This  embraces  not  only  the  inception 
of  this  mighty  wave  of  accelerated  production, 
but  the  equally  wondrous  evidences  of  its  full 
fruition. 

Before  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  the  United 
States,  as  a  producer  of  cereals  and  other  food 

118 


The  Trans-Mississippi  Lands      119 

supplies,  though  trivial  as  compared  with  what  it 
later  attained,  was  limited,  as  we  have  noted,  in 
its  operations  and  growth,  to  the  small  but  steady 
increment  of  swamp  and  valley  lands — of  limited 
area — and  the  great  forest  tracts  that  covered  the 
country.  This,  under  the  active  and  diligent 
energy  characteristic  of  the  free  spirit  of  a  pioneer 
people,  was  always  greater  than  that  necessary 
to  meet  domestic  requirements,  thus  leaving  a 
margin  of  surplus  to  find  a  foreign  market. 

Happily  for  this  overflowing  region,  England 
some  twenty  years  before  had  so  amended  her 
fiscal  system  as  to  permit  a  freer  importation  of 
food  and  kindred  products  from  other  countries; 
the  direct  effect  of  which,  also,  was  to  cause  a  rapid 
increase  in  her  domestic  wants.  The  production 
of  this  surplus  being,  however,  under  the  rigid 
limitations  of  steady,  constant  conditions  and  na- 
tural causes,  as  we  have  pointed  out,  the  domestic 
and  foreign  necessities  for  food  and  other  products 
of  the  soil  being,  likewise,  under  similar  natural 
restrictions,  this  surplus  finding  a  foreign  market 
at  the  time  could  in  no  wise  seriously  disturb  the 
sound  inter-industrial  status  of  other  nations,  or 
any  thus  dependent  upon  an  unhampered  state 
of  international  intercourse.  There  was,  in  con- 
sequence, no  tendency,  in  the  excess  of  agricultural 


120  Rural  versus  Urban 

products,  to  cause  an  unbalanced  development 
of  wealth  and  power  between  the  rural  and  urban 
interests  at  home,  or  within  the  nations  with 
whom  our  trade  was  thus  carried  on. 

As  this  exceptional  and  hitherto  impossible  in- 
crement in  the  products  of  the  soil  throughout  the 
United  States  was  primarily  dependent  upon  the 
ease  and  rapidity  with  which  this  gifted  region 
could  be  brought  under  the  dominion  of  man,  it 
will  be  well  to  consider  the  many  causes  that 
severally,  in  their  concert  of  action,  produced 
that  miraculous  output  of  agricultural  products, 
especially  food,  that  marks  the  history  of  that 
prolific  region.  It  is  worthy  of  note,  as  a  curi- 
osity in  the  economic  affairs  of  mankind,  that  had 
there  existed  upon  this  same  area  of  lands  the  like 
distribution  of  forests  that  covered  those  east 
of  the  Mississippi  River,  excepting  in  Illinois,  it 
would  have  been  the  labor  of  many  centuries, 
as  it  was  in  the  East  and  South,  instead  of  a  few 
decades,  as  it  was  in  the  West,  to  place  them  to 
the  same  extent  in  a  suitable  state  of  culture. 

It  was  to  the  absence  of  this  usual  and  prime 
impediment  to  the  progress  of  husbandry  that  was 
solely  due  that  cyclonic  material  advance  in  the 
United  States,  during  the  past  sixty  years,  that 
has  dazed  alike  the  financier  and  economist.     To 


The  Trans-Mississippi  Lands      121 

this  seemingly  inefficient  cause  can  be  assigned  the 
many  marked  economic  disturbances  that  have 
prevailed  even  among  European  nations,  having 
given  a  force  and  emphasis  to  many  fiscal  laws,  not 
foreseen  and  much  beyond  the  purpose  of  their 
advocates.  Thus,  in  the  abolition  of  the  corn-laws 
of  Great  Britain,  there  were  at  that  time  no  con- 
ditions in  sight  which  could  cause  that  devastat- 
ing overflow  of  cheap  agricultural  products  from 
other  lands,  that  wrought  during  the  past  forty 
years  such  dire  havoc  in  her  domestic  husbandry, 
with  the  consequent  wide  and  radical  shiftings  in 
her  internal  economic  and  industrial  affairs. 

Although  free  from  this  greatest  deterrent  to  the 
expansion  of  cultivable  lands,  the  concurrence  of 
many  contributive  influences  was  yet  essential  to 
realize  that  rapid  development  of  them  which 
stands  as  a  marvel  in  the  whole  history  and  ex- 
perience of  agriculture.  These  were  found  in  the 
exceptional  ease  with  which  they  could  be  con- 
verted from  a  state  of  nature  to  a  domestic 
one,  the  prompt  forthcoming  of  an  adequate  pop- 
ulation to  effectively  occupy  the  lands,  and  the 
requisite  capital  to  carry  on  the  needed  process  of 
development.  These  were,  so  to  say,  the  creative 
and  constructive  factors  of  the  problem.  There 
yet  remained  those  connected  with  the  no  less 


122  Rural  versus  Urban 

important  question  of  finding  a  market  com- 
mensurate with  the  supply  of  products  so  sud- 
denly and  largely  augmented.  The  easily  and 
cheaply  constructed  railway  system,  the  result  of 
favoring  physical  conditions  and  characteristics 
of  the  country,  rapidly  ramified  every  part  of  the 
whole  territory,  supplying  ample  facilities  for  the 
drainage  of  its  plenteous  products  from  all  its 
centres,  and  also  their  ready  delivery  to  the  East- 
em  and  other  centres  of  consumption,  and  to  the 
ports  of  export  as  well.  This  requisite  increase 
in  consumptive  power  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
to  meet  the  ever-increasing  abnormal  supply,  was 
thus  fully  assured  by  the  combined  agencies  of 
communication  and  distribution  with  which  this 
region  was  speedily  endowed. 

These  many  concurring  conditions,  enabling  a 
minimum  of  cost  to  be  attained,  were  assembled 
in  that  region  to  a  degree  hitherto  unknown,  and 
that  existed  in  no  other  part  of  the  globe.  Even 
more,  it  is  scarcely  possible  for  such  exceptional 
conditions  to  ever  again  arise  in  the  history  of 
agricultiu"e.  Such  were  these  united  advantages, 
that  the  products  of  this  favored  region  could  be 
offered  to  the  consuming  world  at  prices  that,  in 
many  cases,  proved  fatal  to  home  products  and 
those  in  other  countries.     A  few  conspicuous  facts 


The  Trans-Mississippi  Lands      123 

may  serve  to  elucidate  an  economic  state  that 
grew  up  as  a  consequence  of  these  causes  (of  an 
exceptional  character),  in  which  we  find,  as  a 
direct  result,  the  impoverishment  and  even 
ruin,  in  some  sections,  of  this  most  important 
industry;  but  at  the  same  time  there  arose  to 
opulence  another  industrial  class. 

To  illustrate  this  paradoxical  economic  state 
that  grew  out  of  the  special  influences  entmierated, 
we  will  begin  at  the  decade  of  1870,  as  at  that 
period  the  combined  productive  agencies  became 
extensively  diffused  throughout  that  region,  and 
their  effects  began  to  be  sensibly  felt.  By  authen- 
tic statistical  facts,  we  find  that  from  1870  to  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century,  a  brief  period 
of  thirty  years,  there  was  produced  within  the 
limits  of  the  region  we  have  in  consideration  a 
volimie  of  food  staples  largely  in  excess  of  the 
entire  quantity  produced  in  the  nation  during 
the  whole  period  of  its  existence  down  to  1870. 
To  realize,  in  its  fullest  measure,  the  radical  and 
serious  effect  upon  the  economic  affairs  of  the 
whole  nation  of  the  abrupt  outpouring  of  this 
vast  latent  wealth  that  enriched  this  region,  with 
its  direct  bearing  especially  upon  its  industrial 
interests,  we  have  to  consider  that  in  this  short 
period  there  was  flooded  upon  the  world  the  equiv- 


124  Rural  versus  Urban 

alent  of  what  would  have  been  the  possible  pro- 
duction only  of  centuries  in  our  country,  under 
the  previous  normal  conditions. 

In  the  tumult  and  confusion  thus  engendered 
in  the  hitherto  well-adjusted  interests  of  the 
nation,  there  naturally  emerged  many  favorable 
opportunities  for  class  and  privilege.  Some  idea 
may  be  formed  of  their  deranging  effects  upon  the 
internal  and  duly  related  interests  of  other  nations, 
also,  when  we  realize  the  phenomenal  increase 
in  the  volume  of  exports,  the  outgrowth  of  the 
sudden  and  excessive  production  of  this  prolific 
region.  Statistics  inform  us  that  the  total  ex- 
ports of  our  food  staples,  within  the  thirty  years 
from  1870  to  the  beginning  of  this  century,  were 
many  times  greater  than  the  total  of  like  exports 
during  the  whole  life  of  the  nation  down  to  1870. 
We  will  consider  some  of  the  specific  and  direct 
results  produced  in  the  general  field  of  our  own 
national  industry  by  a  condition  so  singiilar, 
wherein  a  sudden  and  phenomenal  supply  was 
met  by  an  equally  prompt  and  full  demand. 

The  first  and  most  notable  effect  was  felt  upon 
the  general  agriculture  of  the  country  itself. 
Thus,  it  is  noted  that  a  steady  decline  in  the  price 
of  food-products  set  in,  so  that  at  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century  they  were  found  to  have 


The  Trans-Mississippi  Lands       125 

been  in  many  cases  less  than  half  the  prevailing 
price  prior  to  this  inundation  of  supply.  As 
some  measure  of  its  effects  also  upon  foreign 
agricultiire,  it  is  to  be  noted  that,  in  the  case 
of  the  important  food  staple,  wheat,  the  price 
steadily  declined  to  less  than  twenty-four  shillings 
the  quarter,  in  England,  from  that  of  an  average 
former  range  of  forty-five  to  sixty  shillings  per 
quarter. 

An  effect,  quite  as  direct,  distinct,  and  disas- 
trous, of  this  fall  in  price  of  food-products,  was 
promptly  reflected  in  the  painfully  manifest  de- 
cline in  farm  values,  vested  or  otherwise,  in  the 
older  agricultural  regions,  especially  those  located 
in  the  East.  These,  with  their  long  accimiulated 
burden  of  investment,  where  cost  of  produc- 
tion was  at  its  maximum  (albeit  in  harmony 
with  that  of  other  correlated  industries),  were 
suddenly  confronted  with  the  new  condition  where 
a  mere  nominal  investment  and  a  minimum  cost 
of  production  created  a  competition  wholly  be- 
yond their  power  to  successfully  meet.  As  in  all 
other  industrial  operations,  the  net  result  being 
the  very  soul  and  governing  principle,  animating 
energy  and  awakening  the  hope  of  reward,  the 
ratio  of  profit  in  the  end  determines  the  amount 
of  capital  that  can  be  maintained  by  it.     There 


126  Rural  versus  Urban 

followed,  therefore,  as  a  consequence  of  this  de- 
cline in  price  of  products,  a  marked  reduction  in 
all  vested  values  in  those  less  fortunate  regions  of 
agriculture,  to  harmonize  with  the  values  in  the 
more  fortunate  and  favored  regions.  This  led,  in 
the  older  districts  of  husbandry,  to  a  drastic  re- 
vision of  all  vested  farm  values,  and  in  some  cases 
their  utter  and  complete  extinction.  It  was  thus 
that  we  became  familiar  with  that  anomalous 
spectacle  of  abandoned  farms  in  what  were,  only 
recently,  highly  prosperous  agricultural  sections 
in  the  East. 

In  some  foreign  countries,  also, — such  as  Eng- 
land, which  permitted  the  full  force  of  a  cruel  and 
relentless,  though  unforeseen,  competition  to  fall 
upon  her  agricultural  interests,  —  there  was  a 
marked  decline  in  the  values  of  farms  that  were 
once  prosperous  in  the  highest  degree.  This  fatal 
decline  exists  largely,  both  in  England  and  the 
United  States,  even  to  this  day. 

So  great  was  the  unbroken  flow  of  nature's 
bounties  from  this  favored  Trans-Mississippi  re- 
gion, that  the  producer  also  became  a  sufferer 
from  the  very  plethora  he  himself  created.  He 
was  often  oppressed  by  the  excess  of  his  own 
products,  which  from  their  superfluity  became  at 
times  possessed  of  so  little  food  value,  that  he  was 


The  Trans-Mississippi  Lands      127 

driven  either  to  sustain  a  total  loss  in  their  decay, 
or  to  commit  them  to  other,  though  limited  uses. 

The  problem,  therefore,  set  by  necessity  for 
the  early  occupier  of  these  lands  was  whether  he 
could  maintain  that  meagre  margin  of  life  left  in 
the  severe  conflict  of  its  contending  forces  until 
such  time  as  the  world's  population  would  again 
restore  the  fixed  harmony  of  normal  supply  and 
demand,  and  thus  cause  an  advance  in  the  price 
of  his  lands  in  which,  alone,  he  was  to  find  the  net 
rewards  of  his  toil  and  privations.  This  would 
be  in  time  assured  him,  since  it  is  of  nature's 
order  that  a  rapid  increase  in  the  human  family 
follows  a  like  increase  in  means  of  subsistence, 
which  more  than  half  of  mankind  is  fated  to  find 
directly  and  solely  through  its  personal  labor 
upon  the  soil.  This,  alas,  often  came  too  late,  for 
the  labor-worn  pioneer  ended  his  life  of  toil  and 
struggle  that,  in  despite  of  his  self-denial,  left 
him  no  margin  of  net  gains.  In  the  solution  of 
this  problem  he  was,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
even  driven  to  seek  support  from  sources  other 
than  lay  in  his  own  resources  of  labor.  The  eager 
lenders  of  the  nation's  financial  centres  were  ever 
ready  and  willing  generously  to  supply  relief  by  a 
loan,  with  crushing  usury. 

It  might,  in  truth,  be  averred  that  the  net  out- 


128  Rural  versus  Urban 

come  of  the  mighty  army  of  toilers  that  first  oc- 
cupied the  lands  of  this  great  territory  (after 
years  of  patient  waiting  and  labor)  was  almost 
wholly  represented  by  the  increased  value  of  their 
lands,  subject  to  a  substantial  abatement  of  the 
fixed  charges  with  which  they  were  compelled  to 
burden  themselves  in  the  way  of  loans  upon  them. 
Although  they  obtained  these  lands  either  as  a 
gift  from  the  Government,  or  at  a  mere  nominal 
price,  so  great  was  the  stress  ever  upon  them  that 
the  fruits  of  their  labor  rarely  met  their  frugal 
wants  that  remained  after  a  heroic  practice  of 
self-denial  and  its  accompanying  deprivations. 
So  onerous  were  these,  especially  in  the  earlier 
days,  as  to  pass  the  ability  of  the  city  dweller  to 
conceive,  or  his  fortitude  to  endure. 

The  almost  imiform  record  of  their  experience 
shows  that,  for  many  years,  their  expenses  ex- 
ceeded the  value  of  their  products  by  reason  of 
abnormally  low  prices,  due  to  excessive  produc- 
tion. It  would  therefore  seem  that  it  was  not  the 
cultivator  of  the  soil,  but  the  usurer,  the  manu- 
facturer, the  transportation  company,  in  fact  the 
urban  and  cognate  interests,  that  derived  almost 
the  sole  net  benefits  that  accrued  from  his  labor 
upon  the  lands. 

We  must  here  point  out  an  indirect  and  remote 


The  Trans-Mississippi  Lands      129 

injury  that  resulted  from  the  excessive  culture 
of  these  lands,  which  must  be  taken  into  account 
in  the  general  reckoning  as  to  final  results.  We 
have  seen  that,  by  reason  of  the  advantages  of 
physical  conditions,  a  vastly  greater  amount  of 
land  could  be  reclaimed  by  the  same  expenditure 
of  labor  and  capital  on  them  than  cotdd  have 
been  accomplished  under  the  conditions  that  had 
hitherto  deterred  the  growth  of  agriculture.  Even 
without  the  use  of  the  same  improved  mechanical 
appliances,  those  natural  advantages  would  have 
brought  sufficiently  disastrous  consequences  to 
the  farmer  in  the  way  of  over-production,  with 
its  ruinous  depression  of  prices.  But  at  the  same 
time  the  ingenuity  of  man  fortified,  by  special 
implements,  his  labor,  and  vastly  augmented  his 
products.  Not  only  did  this  cause  the  farmer 
to  unduly  extend  his  cultured  area,  with  its  de- 
pressing excess  of  output,  but  it  has  caused  that 
perceptible  depletion  of  the  soil  throughout  that 
once  great  storehouse  of  rural  wealth,  which  has 
already  awakened  alarm  among  the  more  ob- 
servant economists  identified  with  the  interests 
and  future  of  that  section,  which  is  so  vitally 
related  to  the  prosperity  of  the  whole  coimtry. 

Thus,  what  at  near  view  seemed  a  blessing  to 
the  agriculturist  was,  in  fact,  an  instrimient  that 


I30  Rural  versus  Urban 

insidiously  wrought  an  injury,  both  immediate 
and  remote;  as,  by  the  very  superabundant  re- 
sults of  his  labor,  he  depressed  the  current  value 
of  his  products,  and  at  the  same  time  he  drew 
needlessly  upon  the  virgin  fertility  that  lay  in 
the  excessive  area  he  cultivated,  which  should 
have  remained  as  a  resource  to  himself  and  the 
nation.  By  this  you  discover  how,  in  their  in- 
itial and  immediate  effects,  what  seem  benign 
auxiliaries  to  man's  efforts  may,  in  fact,  be  the 
means  of  working  not  only  an  immediate  but 
remote  injury  to  himself.  Yet  so  strangely  is 
mankind  intoxicated  by  the  impatient  spirit  of 
haste,  in  this  superficial  age  in  which  change 
and  progress  are  confounded,  that  all  teleological 
reflections  are  not  only  severely  decried,  but  vig- 
orously condemned.  Nevertheless,  is  it  not  al- 
most a  daily  revelation  that,  in  all  things  human 
that  have  run  a  completed  course,  what  was 
once  heralded  as  a  conserving  and  constructive 
virtue  proved,  in  the  end,  a  disintegrating  and 
destructive  evil? 

Again  I  must  remind  you,  that  a  marked  dis- 
turbance of  a  long-developed  and  established  or- 
der and  harmony  is  usually  productive  of  serious 
evils,  the  violence  of  which  is  in  proportion  to 
the   sudden   and   radical   nature    of  the  change. 


The  Trans-Mississippi  Lands      131 

It  was  under  these  new,  extreme,  and  abnormal 
conditions  we  have  depicted  that  the  price  of 
food-products,  especially,  was  fixed  for  a  large 
section  of  mankind,  which  produced  alike  in  the 
older  communities  of  the  United  States  and  in 
other  nations  conditions  such  as  they  were  wholly 
unable  to  successfully  meet.  We  indulge  in 
no  fanciful  or  idle  speculation  when  we  inquire 
what  would  have  been  the  final  result,  and  the 
real  effect  upon  manufacturing  and  non-agri- 
cultural affairs  of  the  nation,  had  they  been 
directly  and  similarly  stimulated  by  govern- 
mental aid  and  resources  into  the  same  unnatural 
and  exaggerated  state,  with  its  deadly  inter- 
necine competition.  What  would  have  been  the 
result  of  such  unwise  and  direct  aid  is  sufficiently 
shown  by  the  unbalanced  and  unstable  state  in 
which  we  now  find  them,  through  the  casual  sup- 
port they  have  received  from  the  Government. 

Viewing  the  rural  economy  of  the  nation  in  its 
entirety,  despite  its  rapid  expansion  in  the  West 
(which  came  as  an  indirect  windfall  to  the  urban 
interests),  there  could  be  but  little  total  increase 
of  vested  values  in  the  whole;  since,  whatever 
may  have  been  the  increase  in  one  section,  there 
followed  as  a  consequence  an  inverse  and  cor- 
responding decline  in  older  communities,  a  loss 


132  Rural  versus  Urban 

that  the  recent  rise  in  price  of  the  worid's  food- 
products  has  as  yet  only  partially  redressed. 
This  is  shown  by  a  critical  study  of  statistics ;  for 
in  them  we  discover  that,  while  there  was  every- 
where an  advance  in  vested  agricultural  values  in 
even  pace  with  those  of  a  non-agricultural  nature, 
before  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  we  find  them 
thereafter  rapidly  descending  to  a  mere  moiety 
of  their  former  ratio  of  gain,  while  those  of  an 
urban  character  as  rapidly  increased  by  leaps 
and  bounds. 


X 

GROWTH  OF  AGRICULTURE  AND  CITIES 

"\  X /"E  find  in  1900,  after  a  period  of  thirty 
'  ''  years  of  the  greatest  activity  and  expansion 
of  husbandry,  that  the  value  of  agriculture 
throughout  the  nation  represents  a  ratio  of  gain 
not  only  insignificant  compared  with  that  prior  to 
i860,  but  far  below  that  of  the  increase  of  popula- 
tion during  that  period.  The  urban  and  related 
interests,  on  the  other  hand,  reveal  not  only  a 
ratio  of  gain  immensely  beyond  that  of  the  in- 
creased population,  but  an  absolute  gain,  the 
ratio  of  which  far  exceeded  that  shown  before 
the  middle  of  the  last  century.  This  difference 
in  the  relative  growth,  during  that  period,  of 
these  two  great  and  mutually  sustaining  wealth- 
producers  of  the  nation  becomes  of  special  and 
material  significance  when  we  consider  that, 
during  this  time,  the  agricultural  element  greatly 
exceeded  in  numbers  all  others  in  the  nation. 
We  must,  therefore,  regard  the  great  cycle  of 
133 


134  Rural  versus  Urban 

disturbed  industrial  and  productive  forces  in- 
augurated and  constunmated  by  the  sudden  de- 
velopment of  the  vast  plain  region  of  the  West,  as 
specially  resulting  in  a  net  increase  of  urban 
wealth  and  power,  to  an  extent  far  beyond  that 
which  would  have  been  attained  had  there  been 
a  natural,  just,  and  co-ordinate  distribution  of  all 
the  benefits  that  arose  out  of  that  intense  and 
exceptional  period  of  industrial  activity. 

We  have  seen  what  were  the  unequal  effects 
upon  the  entire  body  of  the  nation's  agriculture 
itself,  through  excessive  and  rapid  expansion  of 
rural  products.  We  will  now  proceed  to  consider 
some  of  the  effects  due  to  the  same  cause,  visible 
in  other  directions.  In  pointing  out  that  concur- 
rence of  various  agencies  and  causes  essential  to 
a  rapid  reclamation  of  a  large  region  possessed  of 
so  many  rare  natural  advantages,  we  must  re- 
gard railways  as  of  the  greatest  moment,  since  it 
was  through  them  that  the  essential  speedy  ebb 
and  flow  of  creative  activities  could  be  effected 
throughout  a  domain  so  vast  in  extent,  and  so 
varied  in  character.  That  there  was  an  im- 
mediate response  to  a  necessity  so  vital  and  funda- 
mental, is  shown  by  the  widespread  system  that 
at  once  sprung  up. 

The  growth  of  railways  in  that  region  was  ex* 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities    135 

ceptional,  and  even  more  rapid  than  the  general 
development  of  the  country.  Within  its  limits 
alone,  there  was  built,  in  the  twenty-year  period 
from  1870  to  1890,  a  mileage  of  more  than  half 
of  that  constructed  in  the  entire  nation  down  to 
1870.  Among  the  special  features  that  mark  the 
many  advantages  that  contributed  to  the  growth 
and  profitable  maintenance  of  this  great  railway 
system  in  that  territory,  we  must  regard  the  char- 
acter of  its  products  as  the  most  important,  bear- 
ing directly,  as  they  do,  upon  the  amount  of 
profitable  tonnage  they  could  supply,  and  which 
is  so  important  a  source  of  revenue  to  them. 

Nowhere  in  the  United  States  do  the  cereals 
grow  in  greater  profusion  and  abundance  than  in 
the  region  that  is  the  subject  of  our  inquiry,  and 
it  is  the  cereal  products  that  supply  the  largest 
and,  in  the  end,  the  most  remunerative  tonnage. 
The  extent  of  this  resource,  in  that  region,  may 
in  a  measure  be  realized  by  an  array  of  some 
important  statistics.  Of  the  staple  cereals,  oats, 
wheat,  and  Indian  com,  there  were  produced  in 
that  territory  alone  over  one  billion  tons  in  the 
twenty  years  between  1870  and  1890,  an  amount 
far  greater  than  had  hitherto  been  produced  in  the 
whole  prior  history  of  the  nation.  The  other, 
though    less    important,    products    were    equally 


136  Rural  versus  Urban 

prolific  in  their  supply.  Beyond  the  necessities 
of  internal  distribution,  there  fell  to  the  rail- 
ways much  the  larger  share  to  be  delivered  to 
the  Eastern  and  other  domestic  consiimptive 
centres,  as  well  as  to  foreign  lands. 

As  further  bearing  on  the  prosperity  of  rail- 
ways in  the  whole  country,  it  should  be  distinctly 
noted  that,  of  the  total  surplus  products  of  this 
prolific  region,  the  far  greater  part  found  a  market 
in  the  Eastern  section  of  the  country  and  abroad, 
thus  necessitating  its  carriage  through  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  nation,  giving  rise  to  the  great- 
est possible  mileage  service. 

The  construction  of  a  railway  system  so  sudden 
and  so  vast,  under  the  special  conditions  and 
causes  pointed  out,  developed  a  like  excessive 
activity  in  all  subsidiary  industries.  It  must  be 
fully  borne  in  mind  that,  not  only  was  there 
created  in  this  territory  a  new  railway  mileage  of 
an  extent  and  with  a  rapidity  hitherto  unparal- 
leled in  railway  annals,  but  the  then  existing  rail- 
ways received  a  quickening  impulse  and  renewed 
energy  that  necessitated  immediate  expansion,  to 
meet  which  required  the  additional  expenditure 
of  a  fabulous  wealth  of  capital. 

To  realize,  in  an  adequate  measure,  the  magic 
influence  exerted  upon  the  existing  railways  and 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities  137 

all  industrial  interests  of  the  nation,  by  a  cause 
seemingly  so  inefficient  and  remote  as  the  ready 
reclamation  of  the  lands  west  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  it  may  be  well  to  seek  the  Ught  of  hypothe- 
sis. Let  it  be  assumed  that  there  had  existed 
no  great  contiguous  plain  and  prairie  area  west  of 
the  Mississippi  River,  and  that  there  were  the 
same  impedimenta  to  the  reclamation  of  the 
lands  encountered  by  the  cultivators  of  the  soil 
eastward  of  that  river.  Under  this  hypothesis, 
the  same  steady,  though  slow,  march  of  agricul- 
ture would  have  marked  its  progress  as  heretofore. 
It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that,  in  this  case,  no 
more  than  a  mere  fraction  of  the  present  rail- 
way system  west  of  the  Mississippi  River  would 
now  exist,  or  even  the  present  status  of  the  rail- 
ways east  of  that  river.  Even  more,  it  is  not 
conceivable  that  there  would  be  now  the  same 
population  of  the  nation,  or  the  relative  wealth 
and  power  of  the  urban  portion  of  it.  Neither  do 
we  believe  it  could  be  properly  contended  that  the 
same  relation  would  have  existed  between  the 
manufacturing,  trading,  and  capitalistic  forces,  on 
the  one  hand,  and  those  of  agriculture,  on  the 
other,  that  now  exists.  It  might  be  confidently 
affirmed,  however,  that  there  would  have  been  no 
abandoned  farms  or  impoverished  agriculturists 


138  Rural  versus  Urban 

east  of  that  river,  but  that  the  whole  agricultural 
system  would  have  presented  a  high  and  uniform 
prosperity  that  could  find  no  parallel  in  the  history 
of  husbandry. 

It  might,  moreover,  though  covering  a  vastly 
smaller  area,  be  possessed  of  even  greater  total 
wealth  than  now.  Best  of  all,  there  would  have 
been  preserved  that  just  co-ordination  of  agricul- 
tural and  non- agricultural  interests  and  popula- 
tion that  formerly  prevailed,  with  its  equable 
distribution  of  the  fruits  of  labor  and  rewards  of 
toil.  There  would  have  been  a  natural  balance  of 
all  productive  forces  and  activities,  making  for  a 
higher  state  of  social  and  economic  Hfe,  with 
those  conserving  tendencies  that  would  have 
given  greater  permanence  and  stability  to  our 
institutions  and  an  equal,  perhaps  even  a  more, 
commanding  position  among  the  nations. 

I  desire  here  to  dispel  from  your  mind  any 
thought  that  I  regard  the  bounties  and  gifts  of 
nature  other  than  a  blessing  to  man,  but  wish 
only  to  have  you  understand  that  the  views  here 
entertained  serve  to  illustrate  the  general  truth 
that,  too  often,  meastues,  which  in  their  essence 
might  become  a  benefit,  are  turned  into  an  injury 
to  mankind  by  a  reverse  use  of  them.  Thus,  had 
our  government  so  disposed  of  these  lands,  with 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities  139 

their  vast  potentiality,  in  such  manner  as  would 
have  preserved  the  steady  and  constant  ratio 
of  growth  of  agriculture  that  had  obtained  in  its 
past  history,  many  lasting  advantages  would  have 
been  secured  and  quite  as  many  evils  avoided. 

First,  there  would  have  been  a  due  co-ordination 
in  the  growth  and  expansion  of  all  the  industries 
of  the  nation,  securing  that  just  relation  and 
harmony  essential  to  the  integrity  and  perma- 
nence of  all  its  productive  energies  and  activities 
in  their  collective  form.  Second,  there  would 
not  have  been  that  wide  disparity  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  total  created  wealth  between  the 
rural  and  urban  elements  that  now  exists,  with 
its  menace  of  danger  in  every  category  of  national 
life.  Third,  there  would  yet  remain  to  the  Gov- 
ernment, as  a  funded  resource,  a  large  and  un- 
touched domain  of  fertile  lands,  through  the 
judicious  distribution  of  which  there  would  have 
been  maintained,  for  many  decades  yet  to  come, 
that  steady,  full,  and  coequal  development  of  the 
whole  industrial  body,  a  sure  guarantee  of  peaceful 
thrift  and  industry  throughout  the  nation. 

Remember,  it  was  the  idle  proletariat  in  the 
cities  with  their  daily  cry  "bread  and  amuse- 
ment," and  not  the  valor  of  the  rural  Goth,  that 
made  the  sack  of  Rome  possible.     Remember, 


140  Rural  versus  Urban 

also,  it  was  the  vicious  distribution  of  the  nation's 
resotirces  that  created  this  idle  and  unemployed 
class,  so  long  a  deadly  peril  to  the  city  and,  event- 
ually, to  the  Empire. 

Under  our  hypothesis,  does  any  one,  at  all 
familiar  with  the  art  of  husbandry,  its  possibilities 
and  limitations,  believe  that  the  same  wondrous 
increased  production  of  the  plain  and  prairie 
regions  of  the  West,  that  marked  the  first  twenty- 
five  years  of  its  development,  could  have  been 
realized  under  less  than  a  century  and  a  half  of 
patient,  plodding  toil? 

This  inquiry  might  properly  be  extended  be- 
yond the  borders  of  our  own  land.  In  such 
countries  as  England,  where  there  was  a  free 
importation  of  agricultural  products,  the  effects 
of  this  same  influence  are  too  visible  and  pro- 
nounced not  to  believe  that  they  almost  wholly 
determined  the  marked,  even  dual,  relation  that 
has  long  subsisted  between  the  rural  and  urban 
sections  of  that  great  people. 

The  sudden  evolution  of  a  stupendous  railway 
system  in  the  United  States,  rendered  possible 
only  by  the  exceptional  causes  pointed  out, 
developed  in  a  like  degree  of  time  and  extent  all 
subordinate  industries,  such  as  manufacturing, 
mining,  and  so  forth,  whose  reflex  action  gave  a 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities  141 

further  stimulus  to  general  railway  construction. 
Thus,  by  an  ever  increasing  plexus  of  interactions, 
there  was  created  a  body  of  correlated  industries, 
having  in  their  nature  no  semblance  in  character 
to  those  which,  united,  were  the  cause  of  their 
origin  and  constant  support.  It  is,  therefore, 
manifest  that,  in  the  act  of  creating  those  ma- 
terial agencies  by  which  the  latent  riches  of  that 
wondrous  region  could  be  unlocked,  almost  the 
entire  commercial  and  financial  advantages  and 
rewards  arising  from  their  production  must  con- 
centrate in  the  more  consolidated  groups  or  forms 
of  labor,  where  it  could  alone  assume  that  or- 
ganized character  requisite  to  effect  the  desired 
results.  As  a  consequence,  it  was  to  the  cities, 
with  their  fraternally  related  industries  and  in- 
terests, that  almost  the  entire  commercial  and 
financial  advantages  flowed,  and  which  primarily 
grew  out  of  the  agricultural  resources  of  the 
Trans-Mississippi  region. 

An  effect,  distinct  and  decisive,  was  at  once 
felt  in  the  monetary  centres  and  affairs  of  the 
nation,  especially  in  the  Eastern  portion  of  it. 
There  speedily  arose  such  a  pressing  demand  for 
funds  to  finance  the  railways  and  other  interests, 
that  so  quickly  sprung  into  existence,  as  to  put 
the  monetary  resources  of  the  nation  to  the  sever- 


142  Rural  versus  Urban 

est  test.  These  soon  became  inadequate,  and 
recourse  was  had  to  foreign  capital.  This  was 
readily  obtained,  as  the  increased  agricultural 
exports,  directly  created  by  its  use,  greatly  strength- 
ened the  nation's  credit  position  in  foreign  coun- 
tries. In  addition  to  the  capital  that  flowed 
from  the  financial  centres  of  the  East,  there  were 
many  loan  agencies,  located  in  the  midst  of  the 
territory  itself,  to  promote  and  facilitate  its 
distribution. 

The  tendency  of  capital  to  flow  in  the  direction 
where  liberal  rewards  are  most  promising  is  ever 
natural  and  plentiful.  No  more  desirable  invest- 
ment of  capital  can,  upon  the  whole,  be  found 
than  that  based  on  fertile  lands,  whose  steadily 
increasing  value  is  assured  by  the  ready  absorption 
of  their  products,  through  the  constant  increase  of 
the  world's  primary  necessities.  There  came  to 
the  farmer  of  the  West,  all  too  soon,  a  crying 
necessity  that  sprung  from  the  very  excess  of 
his  products,  giving  the  professional  money-lender 
a  rare  harvest  of  inordinate  gains  by  supplying 
this  necessity  (as  did  the  usurer  of  ancient  Rome 
to  her  peasantry),  at  rates  that,  in  their  nature 
and  effects,  only  too  often  proved  confiscatory. 

The  ingrained  money-lending  propensity  of 
the  noble  or  patrician  class,  centred  mainly  in 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities  143 

the  city  of  Rome,  and  other  causes  that  favored 
this  class,  led  to  many  and  such  radical  changes 
in  the  political,  economic,  and  civic  institutions 
that   they   at   last   ended   the   commonwealth. 

The  odious  contract  form  of  ^'nexum/^  so 
much  relied  upon  by  the  money-lending  aristoc- 
racy, with  its  galling  '^mancipium,**  together  with 
the  consular  "imperium,*^  giving  the  consuls — 
always  drawn  from  the  patrician  class — arbitrar>^ 
power  to,  conveniently  and  at  any  season,  call 
the  peasant  from  his  labors  in  the  field  to  be 
enrolled  in  the  army,  established  an  absolutism 
over  the  peasantry  and  rural  affairs  seldom 
if  ever  wielded  by  the  privileged  classes  of  any 
other  nation.  This  led  to  the  most  serious 
embarrassment  in  his  efforts  to  acquire  the  means 
of  subsistence  from  his  little  farm,  and  brought 
such  distress  in  his  domestic  affairs  as  to  cause 
the  necessity  of  a  loan,  in  order  to  repair  a  de- 
ficiency that  resulted  from  an  enforced  absence 
from  his  farm  to  render  service  in  the  army. 
Thus  the  aristocratic  class  were  enabled  to  cre- 
ate at  will  the  necessity  of  a  loan,  which  only  too 
often  placed  the  peasant  under  the  most  galling 
obligations  to  a  merciless  oligarchy,  a  condition 
of  which  they  never  failed  to  avail  themselves. 

This,   at  last,   completely  destroyed  the  bold 


144  Rural  versus  Urban 

and  independent  peasantry  which  gave  to  Rome 
not  only  its  wealth,  but  its  warriors  also,  and  con- 
verted agriculture  into  a  system  of  patrician  land- 
lordism. Thus  from  that  highest  state  of  individual 
peasant  ownership,  it  passed  into  one  centralized 
under  the  control  of  the  aristocracy  of  Rome, 
in  which  slave  labor  was  substituted  for  the 
free  labor  of  the  peasantry.  In  passing,  it  may 
be  well  to  note  that  the  Roman  people  foimd  in 
ivar  a  never-failing  source  and  an  abundant  supply 
of  slaves,  for  it  was  their  cruel  custom  to  carry 
those  captured  in  battle,  of  whatever  rank,  as 
prisoners  of  war  into  their  own  country  to  be 
converted  into  slaves,  mainly  to  work  the  estates 
of  the  patrician  and  senatorial  classes.  It  is  one 
of  the  blackest  pages  of  Roman  history  that 
pictures  the  professional  slave -dealer  who  always 
followed  the  Roman  legions  and  who  drove,  in  an 
enshackled  and  melancholy  train  to  a  hopeless 
doom  of  servitude  in  the  fields  and  odious  "er gas- 
tula"  of  the  patrician  landlords,  the  hapless 
prisoners  who  thus  became  one  of  the  most  valued 
fruits  of  victory.  The  peasants,  who  constituted 
the  bulk  of  the  Roman  army,  were  thus  indirectly 
made  the  instruments  of  their  own  ruin. 

In  fact,  through  the  brutal  force  of  laws  and 
customs  affecting  the  relations  of  creditor  and 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities  145 

debtor,  and  always  to  the  advantage  of  the 
patrician,  or  plutocratic  class,  the  peasants  them- 
selves were  often  reduced  to  servitude,  and  com- 
pelled as  slaves  to  labor  for  their  aristocratic 
creditors  and  masters  upon  the  lands  they  once 
tilled  as  free  and  independent  owners.  As  a 
consequence,  this  great  industry  rapidly  degener- 
ated, and  the  lands  once  so  productive  imder  free 
peasant  ownership  became  insufficient  imder  the 
patrician  landlords,  with  slave  labor,  to  supply 
the  wants  of  the  city,  thus  creating  a  permanent 
necessity  to  rely  upon  imports  from  other  coun- 
tries. It  also  caused  the  once  we]  1 -employed  and 
self-sustaining  peasantry  to  drift  into  the  cities, 
more  especially  Rome,  and  thus  swell  the  un- 
employed and  indigent  class  centred  there,  which 
later,  marshalled  under  Marius,  the  Cinnas,  Sul- 
las,  Pompeys,  and  Csesars,  subverted  what  was 
left  of  the  liberties  of  the  Republic,  destroying 
even  the  long  offending  and  oppressive  aristocracy 
itself. 

Where  nations  have  imitated  the  example  of 
Rome,  in  wantonly  despoiling  their  own  domestic 
agricultural  interests  and  resources  to  enrich  and 
over-populate  their  cities,  it  is  only  to  be  expected 
that  they  would  similarly  follow  her  example,  and 
seek  to  maintain  this  unequal  and  inequable  dis- 


146  Rural  versus  Urban 

tribution  of  wealth  by  forcibly  and  wrongfully 
appropriating  the  wealth  and  territory  of  other 
nations.  May  not  the  ultimate  fate  that  awaited 
Rome  supply  a  warning  that  might  be  profitably 
heeded  by  those  nations  who  seek  to  forcibly 
wrest  from  other  nations  the  means  necessary 
to  perpetuate  an  unwise,  artificial,  and  highly 
abnormal  condition  created  within  themselves,  by 
permitting  one  class  to  appropriate  from  another 
what  of  right  was  properly  its  own?^ 

In  its  entirety,  therefore,  it  would  seem  that  it 
was  the  railways  with  their  affiliated  interests, 
the  manufacturer  with  his  special  advantages, 
the  money-lender  of  the  financial  centres,  and  the 
speculator  with  his  manipulative  methods,  which 
absorbed  about  all  the  wealth  that  the  farmer's 
toil  directly  produced  in  the  Trans-Mississippi 
territory,  at  least  diuing  its  early  history. 

Nor  were  the  rich  advantages  reaped  by  the 
financial  classes  confined  to  that  region  in  the 
West  alone;  for  increased  activity  everywhere, 
due  to  the  excessive  demand  for  capital  to 
speedily  develop  its  resotuces,  was  indirectly  felt 

'  Touching  this  and  other  causes  that  brought  such  evil  conse- 
quences and  disasters  to  the  Roman  nation,  especially  in  its 
formative  period,  see  Cicero,  Ati.,  249;  Dionysius  Halicarnassus, 
vi.,  15  to  90;  Plutarch's  Lives  of  Coriolanus  and  the  Gracchi; 
Livy,  ii.,  23  to  30,  viii.,  28,  xii.,  29;  Appian,  i.,  i,  4;  and  the 
Annals  of  Tacitus,  iii.,  54,  vi.,  16-17. 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities  147 

in  all  the  industries  of  the  nation,  enabling 
them  uniformly  to  command  abnormal  rates. 
We  must  not  omit  to  point  out,  as  a  circumstance 
tending  to  powerfully  promote  and  increase  the 
influence  and  enhance  the  advantages  of  the 
money-lending  classes  of  the  nation,  that  it  was 
during  the  period  when  these  lands  were  being 
developed,  that  our  primary  monetary  medium 
was  seriously  curtailed  (in  fact  cut  in  twain) 
by  depriving  one  of  the  important  factors  of  its 
monetary  function.  This  very  naturally  had 
the  effect  of  abnormally  limiting  the  supply  and, 
as  a  consequence,  enhancing  its  value,  at  the 
very  time  when  there  arose  an  extraordinary 
demand ;  thus  effectively  operating  to  increase  the 
power  and  promote  the  advantages  of  the  money- 
lending  classes,  confined  almost  exclusively  to  the 
cities. 

Relative  to  all  this,  it  might  be  even  more 
definitely  and  specially  affirmed  that,  by  a  per- 
version of  just  trade  and  natural  laws,  there  was 
diverted  to  the  benefit  of  the  urban  element  of 
the  nation,  what  of  right  belonged  to  the  produc- 
tive energies  of  its  rural  class.  Rich  as  were  the 
opportunities  for  aggrandizement  of  the  one  class, 
to  the  detriment  of  the  other,  that  lay  in  the 
abnormal  conditions  created  by  the  forced  devel- 


148  Rural  versus  Urban 

opment  of  these  lands,  with  their  vast  possi- 
bilities, a  still  richer  award  awaited  the  urban 
class,  especially  in  the  Eastern  section  of  the 
nation,  in  a  like  manipulation  of  the  external 
forces  of  distribution  inhering  in  the  nation's 
relations  to  the  affairs  of  other  countries. 

In  order  to  secure  the  requisite  flow  of  popula- 
tion to  occupy  these  new  lands,  it  was  found  neces- 
sary to  resort  to  artificial  stimulants.  Despite 
their  rich  natural  endowments  and  many  other  at- 
tractive features,  their  development  could  not,  by 
natural  causes,  proceed  at  such  a  pace  as  to  meet 
the  necessities  and  wants  of  those  whose  interests 
demanded  a  more  rapid  one.  The  Government 
was  therefore  solicited  to  supply  this  needed  stimu- 
lant. By  the  easy  and  ever  ready  response  in 
those  days.  Congress,  by  a  system  of  grants  and 
special  favors,  instituted  measures  that  practically 
bestowed  this  matchless  domain,  as  a  gift,  upon 
an  eager  subsidy-hunting  class,  as  well  as  upon 
those  who  were  willing  to  brave  the  toils,  hard- 
ships, and  privations  of  an  early  settler's 
life  in  the  hope  of  a  comfortable  future 
home.  Although  a  nominal  price  was  charged 
to  those  who  were  able  to  make  a  direct 
purchase,  by  far  the  largest  part  of  these  lands 
was  given,  without  cost,  to  those  who  were  willing 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities  149 

to  comply  with  the  easy  terms  of  occupation. 
In  this  gift  were  included  the  subventions  to  rail- 
ways, the  mild  conditions  of  which  only  required 
them  to  occupy  the  lands  by  constructing  their 
lines  through  them.  What  was  the  extent  of 
these  fertile  lands  that  passed  from  the  Govern- 
ment (and  therefore  from  the  real  owners,  the 
people)  to  the  future  occupants  of  them,  is  most 
difficult  to  accurately  determine.  The  importance 
of  it,  however,  may  be  in  some  measure  realized 
by  the  approximate  statement,  that  it  embraced 
a  total  area  greater  than  that  of  France,  Italy, 
and  the  United  Kingdom  combined,  with  a  far 
greater  and  more  diverse  capacity  of  production. 
To  the  railways  alone,  there  was  given  an  area 
that  fell  little  short,  if  any,  of  that  of  all  the  lands 
of  the  United  Kingdom,  and  was  more  than  two 
thirds  of  those  of  France.  Indeed,  one  single  rail- 
way line,  that  traversed  the  length  of  one  State 
alone,  received  a  grant  of  land,  the  present  value  of 
which  is  greater  than  that  of  all  the  railways  (and 
there  are  many)  within  the  limits  of  that  State. 
What  a  source  of  rapid  enrichment  these  grants 
must  have  been  to  the  eager  subsidy-hunters  of 
the  Eastern  cities,  may  be  conjectured  when  the 
further  fact  is  stated  that,  in  virtue  of  the  ex- 
ceptional physical  conditions  that  favored  their 


150  Rural  versus  Urban 

construction  throughout  these  lands,  railways 
could  be  built  at  such  a  minimum  of  cost  as  was 
not  possible  elsewhere  in  the  United  States.  To 
complete  this  picture,  wherein  the  Midas  touch 
of  the  Government  transformed  the  treasured 
wealth  of  these  lands,  and  transferred  it  into 
the  coffers  of  these  favored  railways,  having 
their  financial  root  mainly  in  the  cities  of  the 
East,  it  is  necessary  to  note  that,  from  the  very 
beginning,  they  derived  from  the  excessive  output 
of  the  soil  an  abundant  and  remunerative  traffic. 

From  the  maze  of  facts  and  statistics,  the  con- 
fusion and  dislocation  of  natural  economic  and  hu- 
man laws  that  stand  more  or  less  clearly  revealed, 
let  us  briefly  recapitulate  some  of  the  salient 
results  that  have  been  already  noted,  by  which 
we  may  form  some  definite  conception  of  the  true 
nature  of  this  great  problem  as  a  whole.  We  have 
already  stated,  that  the  brief  space  of  years  from 
1870  to  1890  marks  the  real  beginning  and  most 
active  period  in  the  development  of  these  lands. 
Although  since  that  time  there  has  been  a  further 
and  important  development  of  them,  yet  so 
striking  are  the  contrasts,  and  so  glaring  are  the 
disturbing  effects,  disclosed  by  this  period,  that 
we  will  confine  our  attention  mainly  to  it. 

We  find  that  in  this  territory  there  were  con- 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities  151 

structed,  dtiring  that  period,  nearly  forty  thousand 
miles  of  railway,  approximating  one  half  of  the 
entire  mileage  constructed  in  the  United  States 
during  that  time,  and  nearly  three  quarters  of 
the  total  mileage  of  the  nation  in  the  year  1870. 
Of  Indian  com,  during  the  same  period,  there 
were  raised  in  this  territory  something  lil<:e 
twenty  billions  of  bushels,  an  amount  almost 
equal  to  that  produced  in  the  United  States 
in  its  whole  history  previous  to  1870.  Of 
w^heat,  there  were  produced  nearly  three  and  a 
half  billions  of  bushels,  over  one  half  the  total 
amount  of  this  cereal  raised  in  the  United 
States  before  1870.  As  to  the  other  cereals  and 
the  grasses,  it  is  sufficient  to  summarily  state  that 
they  were  produced  in  this  territory  in  even  a 
greater  relative  volume.  We  must  not  omit  to 
mention  the  important  fact  in  this  connection, 
that  the  marked  increase  in  the  production  and 
exportation  of  cotton  during  this  period  can  be 
attributed  almost  wholly  to  the  like  greater 
facility  with  which  the  lands  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  could  be  reclaimed  to  cotton  culture, 
as  compared  with  those  east  of  it. 

Thus,  in  the  year  i860,  there  were  produced  in 
the  whole  country  five  million  four  hundred  and 
ninety  thousand  bales  of  cotton.   Of  this  only  four 


152  Rural  versus  Urban 

hundred  and  seventy  thousand  bales  were  pro- 
duced in  the  territory  now  constituting  the 
States  of  Texas  and  Oklahoma.  Therefore,  at 
this  time,  in  the  older  sections  of  the  country,  where 
the  growth  of  cotton  developed  slowly,  there  was 
raised  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  whole.  In  1900,  the 
total  production  of  cotton  was  ten  million  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  bales,  of  which  the 
two  States  of  Texas  and  Oklahoma  alone  are  to  be 
credited  with  three  million  seven  hundred  and 
ten  thousand  bales.  Thus,  while  the  product  of 
these  two  States  was  only  one  tenth  of  the  whole 
in  i860,  it  increased  with  such  rapidity  that  in 
1900  it  became  nearly  one  third  of  the  whole 
production  of  the  country.  It  was  in  fact  an 
increase  in  forty  years,  in  this  relatively  small 
territory,  to  an  amount  equal  to  seventy  per  cent, 
of  the  total  that  the  whole  nation  had  been  enabled 
to  reach  in  its  entire  history  up  to  i860,  and  its 
own  growth  shows  the  astounding  increase  of 
over  seven  hundred  per  cent,  during  that  time.  As 
indicating,  in  a  most  pronounced  manner, 
the  capacity  of  rapid  development  of  prairie 
and  plain  lands  over  the  slower  and  more  steady 
growth  of  those  where  greater  impedimenta  exist 
to  limit  their  reclamation,  we  note  that  the  increase 
in  the  latter  was  from  five  million  bales  in  i860 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities  153 

to  six  and  a  half  million  in  1900,  or  a  gain  of  less 
than  one  third,  as  against  a  gain  of  over  seven- 
fold for  the  former,  in  the  same  period. 

What  were  the  effects  upon  our  commercial 
and  economic  relations  with  foreign  nations, 
through  this  overwhelming  and  sudden  influence, 
can  be  realized  by  the  avalanche  of  exports  from 
the  United  States  that  followed  the  affluent  out- 
pouring of  that  prolific  region.  The  quantity  of 
our  food  products,  especially,  that  flowed  upon 
the  markets  of  foreign  countries,  pressed  to  the 
uttermost  the  transportation  facilities  of  our 
rapidly  expanding  system. 

Of  wheat  during  the  twenty-year  period  from 
1870  to  1890  there  were  exported  over  two  bil- 
lions of  bushels,  a  quantity  three  times  that  of  the 
whole  exports  of  the  nation  during  the  entire  history 
of  the  country  prior  to  1870.  For  the  five-year 
period  alone  from  1880  to  1885,  the  exports  of  this 
cereal  exceeded  seven  htmdred  millions  of  bushels, 
an  amount  quite  equal  to  that  exported  from  the 
earliest  times  down  to  1870.  It  might  be  added 
that  the  exports  of  wheat  for  the  thirty  years 
from  1870  to  1900  totalled  four  billion  six  hundred 
millions  of  bushels,  or  six  and  a  half  times 
as  much  as  had  been  exported  prior  to  1870,  and 
an    amount    equal    to    two   thirds   of   the  total 


154  Rural  versus  Urban 

product  of  this  cereal  in  the  entire  nation  before 
1870. 

Indian  com  figured  to  the  extent  of  one  billion 
bushels,  or  an  amount  exceeding  five  times  that 
of  the  entire  export  of  this  cereal  in  the  whole 
previous  life  of  the  nation.  Of  the  meat  equiva- 
lents of  this  grain,  the  exports  were  in  a  similar 
ratio.  As  the  food  products  in  the  older  sections 
of  the  United  States  hardly  exceeded  domestic 
requirements,  it  appears  that  the  vastly  pre- 
ponderating proportion  of  the  whole  volume  of 
exports  came  from  the  new  lands  we  have  been 
considering,  and  were  carried  through  the  long 
intervening  distance  to  the  seaboard. 

There  stands,  therefore,  this  fact  as  perhaps 
the  most  conspicuous  and  potent  one  in  the  whole 
history  of  agriculture,  that,  by  the  conflux  of  the 
many  contributive  causes  we  have  recited,  there 
was  developed  in  that  region,  in  less  than  two  de- 
cades, an  exportable  surplus  of  the  soil's  products 
vastly  exceeding  that  reached  in  the  world^s  entire 
total  before  the  reclamation  of  these  lands  began. 

In  this  wondrous  contribution  to  the  world's 
consumptive  supply,  from  this  seemingly  exhaust- 
less  region,  it  is  a  notable  circumstance,  and  one 
of  deep  significance,  that  it  was  not  due  to  any 
superior  skill  or  improved  methods  whereby  the 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities  155 

productive  power  and  virtues  of  the  soil  were 
enhanced  or  even  maintained,  for  they  have  instead 
suffered  a  serious  depletion.  It  was  solely  due 
to  the  material  agencies  of  distribution,  and  to  the 
mechanical  aids  to  rapidly  realize  upon  the  stored- 
up  treasures  of  the  soil  (the  accumulated  wealth  of 
ages)  and  to  deliver  them  with  the  greatest  facility 
to  the  consuming  world.  As  the  mechanical 
appUances  employed,  in  virtue  of  their  special 
functions,  rapidly  extracted  and  depleted,  with- 
out replenishing,  the  productive  power  of  the 
soil,  already  there  is  heard  from  many  sources 
warnings  as  to  the  dangerous  exhaustion  of  those 
lands  once  stu"charged  with  a  virgin  fertility, 
and  received  by  man  direct  from  nature's  own 
hand.  The  problem  is  already  too  perilously 
near  that  must  engage  the  serious  attention  of 
the  political  economist  and  ethnologist,  how  a 
safe  balance  can  in  future  be  maintained  between 
the  world's  conflicting  capacities  of  production 
and  consumption. 

The  many  auxiliary  aids  to  further  the  activities 
of  the  hiunan  race  having  violently  unlocked  the 
treasured  up  resources  of  nature  throughout  the 
world,  and  made  them  subservient  to  the  imme- 
diate uses  of  man,  regardless  of  future  wants,  have 
imparted  a  ratio  of  growth  to  the  human  family 


156  Rural  versus  Urban 

in  strict  correspondence  therewith;  therefore  the 
advance  in  price  of  agricultural  products  is  not 
due  to  transient,  limited,  or  local  causes,  but  to 
those  of  a  general  and  permanent  character,  extend- 
ing throughout  the  world.  It  is  in  the  tendency 
of  the  one  to  expand  in  an  ever-increasing  ratio, 
and  of  the  other  to  steadily  diminish  relatively, 
that  there  lies  much  trouble  ahead  for  mankind. 
As  the  degree  of  contentment,  happiness,  and 
stability  of  the  human  family  is  dependent  on  the 
perfection  of  its  adjustment  to  the  creative  forces 
surrounding  it,  the  wisdom  is  very  questionable 
of  abruptly  and  artificially  creating  abnormal 
and  transitory  conditions  deranging  this  harmon- 
ious relation.  But  this  is  stagnation,  you  will  say ; 
no,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  in  the  line  of  true  and 
lasting  development  and  progress;  for  it  is  of 
nature's  order  that  all  things  animate  perpetually 
tend  towards  completer  forms;  not  by  cataclysmic 
leaps  and  botmds,  but  by  steady  and  almost 
insensible  increments.  *^ Natura  nonfacit  saltus. " 
In  our  speculations  as  to  the  law  governing  the 
rise  and  growth  of  all  organic  forms,  we  endeavored 
to  show  that  their  true  development,  stability, 
and  integrity  can  be  attained  only  where  there 
is  a  just  correlation  and  free  action  of  their  con- 
stituent parts.      In  the  application  of    this  law, 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities  157 

we  find  that  a  proper  and  sound  economic  re- 
lation of  one  nation  with  another  is  determined 
by  the  free  and  full  exchange  of  their  respective 
products,  created  under  natural,  undisturbed, 
conditions  and  influences.  This  must  of  necessity- 
be  true,  for  every-where  in  nature  it  is  mani- 
fest that  action  and  reaction  are  reciprocal  and 
co-equal. 

In  considering  the  causes  that  so  swiftly  devel- 
oped the  excessive  surplus  products  of  the  soil  in 
the  United  States,  we  have  shown  that  they  were 
transitory  and  abnormal  in  nature;  since,  under 
purely  natural  influences,  no  such  magnitude  of 
production  was  possible.  Being  of  an  artificial 
and  therefore  transient  nature,  they  were,  as 
respects  their  internal  and  international  effects, 
alike  abnormal  and  tentative  in  character.  Being 
such,  it  might,  a  priori,  be  expected  that  internal 
industrial  and  productive  disturbances  would 
result  to  the  nation  that  supplied,  and  to  the 
nations  which  received,  this  surplus,  developed 
under  such  extraordinary  and  exceptional  con- 
ditions. The  event  confirms  the  anticipation 
in  the  fullest  and  completest  manner. 

We  will  first  consider  their  effects,  in  both  their 
beneficial  and  injurious  aspects,  upon  the  nation 
that  most  largely  fell  under  their  malign  influence. 


158  Rural  versus  Urban 

In  England,  before  the  agitation  resulting  in  the 
repeal  of  the  corn-laws,  with  the  exception  of 
the  disturbing  influence  arising  from  the  privileges 
granted  her  agriculturists,  there  was  (as  in  the 
United  States  at  that  time)  a  measurably  equable 
co-ordination  of  all  her  productive  energies,  receiv- 
ing her  supplies  from  sources  where  special  advan- 
tages of  production  prevailed,  and  giving  in  return 
her  own  specially  created  products.  It  was  her 
protected  agricultiire,  limiting  the  supply,  and 
thus  enhancing  its  value,  that  alone  gave  an 
artificial  character  to  her  otherwise  well  balanced 
and  harmonious  internal  industrial  relations 

As  has  been  observed,  the  conditions  imder 
which  agriculture  developed  in  the  United  States 
(the  source  from  whence  Great  Britain  most  largely 
drew  her  supplies  at  that  time)  were  fixed  and 
constant  in  their  nature.  The  growth  of  this 
interest,  therefore,  in  our  country  could  be  co- 
extensive only  with  that  of  other  related  industries 
in  the  nation.  After  supplying  the  current  wants 
of  an  increasing  population,  the  natural  limitations 
upon  the  expansion  of  agricultural  products  did  not 
permit  of  any  marked  increase  in  exports.  Hence, 
in  the  abolition  of  her  corn-laws,  the  agriculturists 
of  England  stood  in  no  immediate  danger  of  such 
an  invading  surplus   from   any  nation  as  would 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities  159 

seriously  affect  the  value  of  their  own  like 
products. 

Still,  the  possible  small  increase  of  foreign  supply- 
in  our  own  country,  even  under  the  uniform  con- 
ditions of  production  we  have  noted,  may  have 
been  sufficient  to  justify  a  law  that  established 
all  her  industrial  interests  upon  that  sound  and 
just  basis  of  mutual  accord.  That  the  agricultur- 
ists of  Great  Britain  suffered  in  no  material  degree 
from  any  immediate  increase  of  imported  agricultu- 
ral supplies,  is  shown  by  the  imports  and  course  of 
prices  for  nearly  two  decades  after  the  repeal  of  the 
corn-laws.  Could  the  economists  of  Great  Britain 
have  foreseen  the  condition  and  causes  (then  quite 
as  unexpected  to  the  Americans  as  to  themselves) 
that  were  ere  long  to  deluge  the  world  with  a  fatal 
torrent  of  cheap  products  of  the  soil,  they  would 
have  probably  hesitated  to  submit  their  great- 
est and  most  honored  industry  to  the  full  effects 
of  its  devasting  influence.  In  that  event,  they 
might  have  adopted  the  policy  that  was  pursued 
with  such  salutary  results  by  other  nations,  es- 
pecially by  France.  In  that  country,  agriculture 
being  the  paramount  industry,  she  ever  jeal- 
ously guarded  that  great  interest  against  all  in- 
fluences that  might  tend  to  seriously  impair  it. 

While   protection,    considered   as   an   abstract 


i6o  Rural  versus  Urban 

commercial  proposition,  cannot  be  regarded  as 
in  strict  harmony  with  general  causes  and  the 
larger  operation  of  natural  and  trade  laws ;  yet  to 
safeguard  the  long-estabUshed  order  of  a  nation's 
industrial  interests  against  the  sinister  effects  of 
overwhelming  conditions,  essentially  temporary 
in  nature  and  artificially  created  by  a  forced  man- 
ipulation and  diversion  of  natural  and  trade  laws, 
it  cannot  be  held  as  inconsistent  with  the  highest 
and  fullest  development  of  national  life.  Thus 
France,  to  minimize  the  destructive  effects  of  a 
fatal  though  temporary  flood  of  products,  with 
its  zero  of  prices,  created  by  methods  that  vio- 
lently wrested  nature's  laws  from  their  due 
course,  even  from  their  very  foundation,  inter- 
posed the  foil  of  such  measures  as  effected  the 
preservation  of  that  industry  upon  which  the 
permanent  prosperity  and  well-being  of  the  na- 
tion depended. 

Moreover,  so  justly  were  these  measures  poised 
that,  while  fully  effecting  their  prime  object,  they 
inflicted  no  injury  upon  her  productive  interests,  nor 
did  they  in  the  least  work  an  unbalanced  state  in  the 
entire  body  of  the  nation's  industrial  activities. 
This  is  shown  by  the  steady,  co-ordinate  advance 
of  all  her  interests,  even  to  this  day,  that  has  ever 
marked  the  progress  of  her  affairs.    While  preserv- 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities  i6i 

ing  her  great  agricultural  system  intact  from  the 
withering  effects  of  causes  abnormal  in  origin  and 
transient  in  nature,  she  has  not  only  become  one 
of  the  foremost  trading  and  commercial,  but  also 
the  first  financial,  nation  of  the  world. 

How  essential  to  the  true  prosperity  and  per- 
manent well-being  of  a  nation  is  the  preservation 
of  its  agriculture  can  be  realized  when  we  reflect 
that,  with  one  exception  only,  this  great  industry 
has  ever  given  honorable  and  healthful  employ- 
ment directly  to  more  than  half  the  population 
of  the  nations,  and  indirectly  to  a  large  portion 
of  the  remaining  part. 

Perhaps  no  more  striking  contrast  in  the  whole 
history  of  industrial  affairs  is  supplied  than 
the  national  economic  antithesis  of  France  and 
England,  as  the  variant  result  of  a  common  in- 
cident force.  While  the  one,  preserving  her 
agriculture  against  the  deadly  effects  of  a  transi- 
tory and  unnatural  influence,  saw  this  great 
industry  rise  and  flourish  in  just  order  with  all 
others,  maintaining  a  healthy  economic  body  as  a 
whole ;  the  other,  by  submitting  this  important  in- 
dustry to  the  full  impinging  force  of  an  unnatural 
competition,  saw,  as  a  consequence,  the  rise  of 
an  ascendent  urban  power  upon  the  ruins  of 
her  agriculture. 


1 62  Rural  versus  Urban 

While,  in  the  one  case,  we  find  that  the  ever- 
increasing  wealth  of  agriculture  is  reflected  as 
the  most  important  asset  in  the  nation's  resources, 
in  the  other,  as  steady  a  decrease  has  to  be  re- 
corded as  a  countervailing  loss  in  the  total  econ- 
omy of  the  nation.  In  an  exhaustive  reckoning, 
there  is  to  be  taken  into  account,  along  with  the 
decline  in  the  vested  agricultural  interests  of  Great 
Britain,  the  direct  loss  of  a  large  current  net  gain 
also,  during  the  last  half-century,  to  which  this 
interest  was  entitled;  and  adding  to  this  the  in- 
visible and  indirect  loss  to  general  trade  arising 
out  of  the  decline  and  stagnation  of  her  agricul- 
ture, it  becomes  a  question  whether  this  loss  has 
permanently  reappeared  in  the  unnatural  in- 
crease of  urban  wealth  sufficiently  to  justify  an 
experiment  that  transformed  in  so  dangerous  a 
manner  her  entire  industrial  situation,  and 
that  at  present  threatens  the  very  stability  of  her 
governmental  institutions. 

This  inquiry  comes  with  all  the  greater  force 
now  that  it  has  become  evident  that  these  dis- 
locating causes  were  in  their  very  nature  only 
temporary  in  character.  Already  our  own  coun- 
try (the  chief  disturbing  cause)  is  again  near,  and 
will  soon  arrive  at,  the  point  where  the  slow, 
steady,   and  plodding   conditions  of  agriculture 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities  163 

will  once  more  prevail,  such  as  existed  before  the 
unjust  and  unnatural  forcing-process  in  the  econ- 
omy of  our  husbandry  was  resorted  to,  that 
enhanced  the  urban  and  affiliated  interests  of 
our  nation  to  an  unnatural  and  dangerous  magni- 
tude and  rapidity  of  growth. 

As  the  urban  element  of  our  country  is  far 
greater  than  it  would  have  been  if  the  agricul- 
tural interests  had  developed  in  the  previous  nat- 
ural order  of  progression,  we  discover  in  our  whole 
economy  an  imequal  distribution  such  as  imparts 
an  instability  to  our  national  affairs.  As  the  fixed 
and  just  correlation  of  the  productive  energies 
and  rewards  of  a  nation  are  alone  compatible 
with  its  true  prosperity  and  the  stability  of  the 
state,  are  we  not  even  now  confronted  with  the 
difficult  problem :  how  the  necessary  redistribution 
of  all  these  forces  can  be  effected? 

The  one  efficient  remedy  would  naturally  sug- 
gest itself,  seeing  that  the  laws  of  our  country  in 
their  partial  and  invidious  influence  caused  the 
unbalanced  relation  now  existing  between  the 
rural  and  urban  elements,  a  reversal  of  this  favorit- 
ism of  the  law  should  operate  to  restore  a  natural 
relation.  Were  the  laws  of  our  country  for  a  time 
to  favor  the  rural  element  in  the  same  discrim.- 
inating  manner  in  which  they  so  long  favored 


1 64  Rural  versus  Urban 

the  urban,  the  cities  would  no  doubt  debouch, 
as  if  by  magic,  upon  the  country  their  sur- 
plus population  that  is  now  the  object  of  so  much 
solicitude  to  the  philanthropist  and  economist. 
Although  this  would  possess  the  element  of  both 
justice  and  restitution,  it  could  not  receive  the 
coimtenance  of  those  who  love  equity  in  all  things, 
since  it  would  contain  the  revolting  principle  that 
one  industry  or  interest  could  properly  be  made 
to  prosper  at  the  expense  of  another. 

A  nearer  and  divinely  appointed  remedy  is 
at  hand,  one  that  would  receive  the  sanction  of 
an  unbiased  judgment,  and  the  approval  of  an 
unblinded  conscience.  Let  not  our  laws  seek  by 
special  aids  to  repair  a  wrong ;  let  them  simply  re- 
move the  disabilities  that  weigh  down  one  interest 
to  the  benefit  of  another.  In  other  words,  open 
that  fair  field  of  equality  and  right  of  action, 
where  merit,  industry,  and  thrift  alone  are  ever 
to  be  the  measure  of  individual  rewards.  A 
nation  blessed  beyond  precedent  with  the  plen- 
teous bounties  of  nature  should,  of  all  others,  be 
able  to  safely  entrust  with  confidence  its  destinies 
to  the  imsubsidized  efforts  of  its  citizens,  and 
to  the  free  operations  of  those  just  laws  that  God 
has  implanted  in  trade. 

Before  tracing  the  many  direct  effects  of  these 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities  165 

laws  in  our  country,  as  revealed  by  special  results, 
we  will  continue  to  further  point  out  those  of  a 
definite  character  produced  by  them  in  other 
countries. 

We  have  before  stated  that  it  was  not  until 
1870  that  the  combined  productive  artificial 
appliances  and  agencies  began  to  work  their 
marked  results,  which  quickly  culminated  in  that 
torrential  and  fateful  overflow,  so  formidable 
to  the  established  agricultural  interests  of  our 
own  and  foreign  coimtries.  This  continued  in 
an  unabated  progressive  ratio,  and  began  to  decline 
only  in  the  earlier  years  of  the  present  century. 
The  final  termination  is  evidenced  by  the  steady 
and  rapid  advance  in  value  of  all  agricultural 
products,  until  they  have  reached  the  significant 
high  level  of  present  prices.  In  fact,  as  our 
country,  after  its  period  of  artificial  disturbance, 
is  again  returning  to  a  natural  and  normal  con- 
dition, is  not  this  rise  in  prices  of  the  soil's  pro- 
ducts only  such  as  might  reasonably  be  expected 
when  abnormal  and  transitory  influences  ceased 
to  depress  agricultural  values? 

As  there  seems  no  good  reason  to  believe  that 
this  rise  is  not  a  natural  one  and  will  not  indefi- 
nitely continue,  we  may  consider  it  the  dawn  of 
a  new  era  in  our  country,  in  which  many  violent 


1 66  Rural  versus  Urban 

political  and  economic  conflicts  are  likely  to 
occur. 

Of  all  the  perishable  products  of  human  labor, 
wheat  stands  in  the  most  constant  and  steady 
ratio  to  it.  In  considering  the  effects  of  our 
exports  of  the  soil's  products  upon  the  internal 
industrial  forces  of  other  nations,  we  will  there- 
fore take  this  cereal  as  an  index-factor  in  our 
endeavor  to  work  out  general  effects  and  specific 
resiilts. 

As  the  agriculture  of  our  country,  as  a  whole, 
had  not  advanced  tmtil  1870  in  any  marked  or 
radical  ratio  of  increase,  being  still  a  measurably 
uniform  and  steady  growth,  there  could  not  as  a 
consequence  arise  any  serious  disturbance  in  the 
internal  economic  affairs  of  other  nations  through 
any  possible  volume  of  our  exports. 

Accordingly,  we  find  that  for  ten  years  prior, 
and  the  twenty  years  subsequent,  to  the  repeal 
of  the  com -laws,  the  average  variations  in  the 
price  of  wheat  in  Great  Britain  were  confined  to 
a  few  shillings  a  quarter,  and  were  mainly  those 
that  would  result  from  the  yearly  variations  in 
the  natural  conditions  of  production.  At  once, 
however,  upon  the  beginning  of  the  period  of  our 
excessive  exports,  there  followed  a  rapid  reduc- 
tion of  values,    reaching  for  the  whole  term  of 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities  167 

thirty  years  from  1870  to  1900  an  average  de- 
crease of  sixteen  shillings  per  quarter,  or  fifty  cents 
per  bushel. 

As  the  farmers  of  Great  Britain  produced  during 
this  time  something  over  two  and  a  half  billions 
of  bushels  of  wheat,  there  thus  fell  upon  them  in 
that  period  the  appalling  loss,  from  this  crop  alone, 
of  over  a  billion  and  a  quarter  of  dollars.  That 
we  are  entitled  to  regard  almost  the  whole  decline 
as  representing  a  net  loss  is  manifest,  since,  at 
the  prevailing  prices  before  the  decline  began,  it 
is  impossible  to  assume  that  their  net  profits  were 
anything  like  that  amount  on  the  relatively  small 
acreage  devoted  to  that  cereal.  As  the  acreage 
given  to  that  crop  in  Great  Britain  was  less  than 
one  tenth  of  that  devoted  to  other  products  that 
came  directly  or  indirectly  within  the  range  of 
a  like  fatal  foreign  competition,  one  can  form  some 
feeble  idea  of  that  stupendous  total  that  represents 
the  loss  of  the  British  agriculturists  during  that 
period  concurrent  with  the  development  of  the 
plain  and  prairie  lands  of  the  Trans-Mississippi 
region,  with  its  formidable  surplus  volume  of 
cheap  products. 

As  illustrative  of  that  eternal  persistence  and 
equivalence  of  all  things,  we  will  consider  how 
like  causes  produce  unlike  effects  upon  bodies  of 


1 68  Rural  versus  Urban 

a  variant  character,  and  point  out  how  this  same 
competitive  influence  operated  to  directly  impover- 
ish one  great  industry,  and  as  directly  and  even 
more  powerfully  to  enrich  another. 

We  find  that,  during  the  period  we  are  consider- 
ing, the  average  urban  population  in  Great  Britain 
was  sixty-six  per  cent,  of  the  total  population,  or 
in  round  numbers  twenty-four  millions.  As  this 
includes  only  those  that  Hve  in  towns  above  two 
thousand  inhabitants,  there  can  properly  be  added 
to  that  total  quite  a  percentage  living  in  towns 
under  two  thousand  inhabitants,  that  by  habit 
and  interest  might  be  strictly  classed  as  urban. 
We  believe  that  twenty-six  millions  might  be 
taken  as  not  an  impossible  number,  leaving  quite 
a  margin  of  population  having  pursuits  neither 
essentially   agricultural   or   urban   in   character. 

We  find  also  that  during  this  period  the  per 
capita  consumption  of  wheat  was  six  bushels, 
and  the  average  total  population  being  thirty- 
six  millions,  this  implies  an  annual  consumption 
of  two  hundred  and  sixteen  millions  of  bushels 
from  1870  to  the  beginning  of  this  century.  For 
the  entire  nation,  therefore,  there  was  a  reduction 
in  cost,  in  this  cereal  alone  during  thirty  years, 
of  over  three  billions  of  dollars,  had  the  same 
price  obtained  that  prevailed,  as  is  probable  it 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities  169 

would  have,  in  the  period  from  1840  to  1870,  a 
period  when  artificial  influences  had  as  yet  not 
vitiated  production  in  a  material  degree,  and 
agricultural  values  were  still  measurably  deter- 
mined by  natural  laws  and  causes.  The  ex- 
clusive urban  class  was  therefore  saved  during 
this  time,  in  this  one  item  of  expense  alone,  nearly 
one  and  one  third  billions  of  dollars. 

It  will  be  difficult  to  regard  this  sum  in  any 
other  light  than,  in  a  large  measure,  an  involuntary 
contribution  of  the  fruits  of  agricultural  labor 
to  the  direct  enrichment  of  the  cities.  When 
one  reflects  that  this  special  and  direct  contri- 
bution to  the  opulence  of  the  cities  was  greatly 
exceeded  by  that  arising  indirectly  out  of  the  far 
larger  and  more  varied  products  of  the  farmer, 
it  ceases  to  be  a  subject  of  wonder  that, 
while  the  farmer  of  Great  Britain  hopelessly 
struggled  under  an  ever-growing  burden,  there 
sprang  at  the  same  time  into  existence,  as  if 
by  magic,  myriads  of  millionaires  in  the 
cities. 

It  may  be  well  to  consider  what  figures  have  fur- 
ther to  say  touching  this  great  question,  and  what 
the  lesson  may  be  that  they  teach.  We  find  that 
in  1850,  a  time  when  discriminating  influences  had 
as  yet  not  embarrassed  agricultural  operations, 


170  Rural  versus  Urban 

there  were  engaged  in  agriculture,  in  England 
and  Wales  alone,  one  million  nine  hundred  thou- 
sand persons.  From  this  time,  as  it  neared  its 
catastrophe,  there  was  a  small  but  steady  decline 
until  1865,  when  it  swiftly  descended  to  nine  hun- 
dred and  eighty -eight  thousand  in  1900,  having  lost 
nearly  one  million  in  less  than  a  half  century,  and 
that,  too,  during  a  time  that  agriculture  rapidly 
expanded  in  all  other  countries.  At  the  same 
time,  the  urban  population  of  Great  Britain  grew 
from  thirteen  and  one  half  millions  in  i860  to 
twenty-nine  and  one  half  millions  in  1900,  or  a 
total  increase  of  sixteen  millions  in  forty  years. 
As  the  increase  of  total  population  from  i860  to 
1900  was  eleven  and  one  half  millions,  it  is  evident 
that  the  cities  not  only  absorbed  the  whole  in- 
crease, but  drew  heavily  from  the  fixed  agricultural 
element  also.  And  why  not,  since  during  this 
time  there  indirectly  poured,  from  an  ever  de- 
pleted  agriculture,  a  ceaseless  stream  of  fertiliz- 
ing financial  blood  into  the  cities? 

After  a  half  century  of  dire  experience,  it  seems 
that  England  has  awakened  to  the  fact  that  the 
policy  of  her  corn-laws  was,  upon  the  whole,  a  mis- 
taken one.  This  is  signally  evidenced  by  the  fact, 
that  the  very  same  class  that  once  advocated  and 


Growth  of  Agriculture  and  Cities  171 

defended  that  policy  is  now  as  vigorously  con- 
demning it,  and  parading  the  virtues  of  those 
nations  that  preserved  their  agriculture,  by  pro- 
tecting it  from  foreign  and  other  competition. 


XI 

AGRICULTURE  IN  FRANCE 

CROM  this  sombre  picture  of  British  agriculture, 
■'■  let  us  turn  to  its  brighter  aspects,  as  displayed 
in  France.  As  of  the  utmost  significance,  we 
must  first  note  the  important  fact  that  during 
the  first  period  of  thirty  years,  between  1840  and 
1870,  the  average  price  of  wheat  in  France  was 
forty-seven  shillings  per  quarter;  while  for  the 
second  period,  from  1870  to  1900,  the  average 
price  was  forty-five  shillings  per  quarter,  a  differ- 
ence of  only  two  shillings,  or  about  six  cents  per 
bushel,  for  the  whole  period  of  sixty  years.  What 
gives  emphasis  to  this  paltry  variation  in  price 
during  that  time  in  France  is,  that  the  last  thirty 
years  coincided  with  that  period  of  cyclonic  pro- 
duction in  our  own  that  caused,  in  other  countries, 
the  most  violent  and  extreme  variations  in  the 
price  of  this  cereal. 

During  the  first  thirty-year  period,  the  fluctua- 
tions in  the  price  of  this  grain  in  France  were  due 

172 


Agriculture  in  France  173 

to  the  difference  in  conditions  and  vicissitudes 
of  production,  which  were  measurably  determined 
by  natural  causes.  The  regularity  of  price  pre- 
vailing in  France,  during  the  second  thirty-year 
period,  can  be  accoimted  for  only  by  the  effective 
measures  which  that  coimtry  employed  to  pre- 
serve her  agriculture  from  the  injurious  effects  of 
an  extensive  and  unnatural  foreign  competition. 
Thus  while  France,  by  her  protecting  care,  pre- 
served this  great  industry  almost  intact  from 
violent  shock.  Great  Britain,  by  subjecting  her 
agriculture  to  its  full  impinging  force,  spread 
devastation  throughout  the  whole  range  of  her 
hitherto  prosperous  husbandry. 

What  would  have  happened  to  agriculture  in 
France  by  following  Great  Britain's  example, 
a  few  figures  will  clearly  reveal.  From  1870  to 
1900,  the  total  production  of  wheat  in  France  was 
nearly  eight  billions  of  bushels.  Had  there  been 
the  same  ratio  of  decreased  value  as  resulted 
in  Great  Britain  from  the  unobstructed  foreign 
competition  she  permitted,  the  loss  of  the  French 
farmer  would  have  been  not  far  from  four  billions 
of  dollars  upon  this  cereal  alone,  during  that  time. 
Counting  the  six -cent  decline  during  that  period 
as  purely  the  result  of  this  competition,  despite 
the  protective  measures  investing  her  agriculture, 


174  Rural  versus  Urban 

there  would  remain  as  a  net  balance  in  the  value 
of  this  crop  alone,  during  that  time,  of  three  and 
one  half  billions  of  dollars,  as  the  result  of  the 
conserving  policy  of  the  French  Government. 

As  in  Great  Britain,  so  in  France,  a  far  larger 
total  of  the  soil's  products  was  still  liable  to  the 
influence  of  foreign  competition,  the  same  as 
that  of  the  cereal  we  have  chosen.  Great  as 
was  this  benefit  in  the  special  instance  shown, 
it  must  have  been  vastly  augmented,  swelling  to 
an  almost  incalculable  whole  the  blessings  that 
the  agriculturists  of  France  received  from  the 
defensive  and  preserving  policy  against  a  danger 
arising  from  transitory  and  imnatural  conditions 
that  must  of  necessity  have  a  transient  existence. 

The  rapid  rebound  and  advance,  in  recent  years, 
throughout  the  world  in  the  price  of  products 
hitherto  directly  affected  by  those  conditions, 
point  to  the  welcome  fact  that  their  vicious  effects 
are  already  on  the  wane,  and  are  destined  soon 
wholly  to  cease,  when  this  greatest  of  all  indus- 
tries will  once  more  be  left  to  the  sole  direction 
and  equable  operations  of  natural  laws  and 
conditions. 

As  evidence  of  the  wholesome  and  just  character 
of  its  protective  measures,  we  find  that  through- 
out the  whole  French  economy  there  were  no  in- 


Agriculture  in  France  175 

equalities  created  in  its  cardinal  interests  and 
industries.  In  fact,  the  very  spirit  of  these  pro- 
tective measures  was,  not  to  create  new  and,  there- 
fore, tentative  conditions  of  trade  and  industry, 
but  to  maintain  the  long  and  well-established 
order  of  the  old.  The  existing  economic  condi- 
tion of  France,  therefore,  is  simply  what  it  would 
have  been  had  there  never  risen  that  heretical 
doctrine  that  man  can,  to  his  advantage,  hasten 
nature's  processes  by  artificially  and  forcibly  de- 
flecting her  laws, — a  doctrine  that  has  worked  such 
fearful  havoc  in  the  political  and  economic  status 
of  some  nations  that  have  recklessly  applied  it. 
Destroy  these  laws  he  cannot,  but  in  his  infinite 
impotence  he  can  divert  them  to  his  own  injury. 

As  a  signal  illustration  of  the  two  aspects  in 
which  organic  bodies  can  be  viewed — that  of  a 
due  correlation  and  action  of  their  integral  and 
constituent  parts,  and  that  of  their  inharmony 
of  relation — France  and  Great  Britain  supply  the 
most  extreme  and  conspicuous  examples  in  their 
respective  spheres  of  economic  life.  In  France, 
we  find  a  carefully  and  well-poised  relation  of  all 
industrial  and  productive  factors  and  energies 
through  judicious  conserving  laws,  such  as  ren- 
der her  immune  to  the  infection  of  artificial  ex- 
traneous influences,   thus  creating  that  vitality, 


176  Rural  versus  Urban 

stability,  and  solidity  of  her  whole  economic  fabric 
that  make  her  the  envied  of  all  nations.  The 
reality  of  this  superior  industrial  productive  power 
of  this  nation  is  conspicuously  shown  by  the  fre- 
quent calls  upon  her  for  financial  aid  and  relief 
by  other  nations,  whose  briUiance  of  industrial 
achievements  has  brought  them  inevitable  dis- 
order. In  the  past  three  decades,  these  organic 
derangements  of  nations,  caused  by  the  disturb- 
ance of  the  healthful  correlation  of  their  internal 
parts,  have  been  only  too  frequent  and  violent  in 
character.  Being  herself  immime  to  serious  indus- 
trial disorders,  these  afSicted  nations  uniformly 
throw  themselves  upon  France  for  financial  sup- 
port, which  she  alone  can  and  does  freely  render, 
solely  for  the  reason  that  she  ever  maintains  that 
just  co-ordination  of  all  the  productive  and  crea- 
tive factors  essential  to  preserve  the  integrity  and 
health  of  her  entire  organic  industrial  body. 

It  is  too  notable  a  circumstance  to  suffer  it  to 
pass  with  a  mere  casual  observation  that,  while 
the  progress  of  other  nations  who  believe  in  the 
virtue  of  forcing  nature's  hand  is  intermittent  and 
marked  with  such  cataclysms  of  industry  and 
trade  as  to  endanger  their  civic,  political, 
and  financial  foundations,  France  ever  pursues 
serenely  the  steady  onward  march  of  industrial 


Agriculture  in  France  177 

progress,  disturbed  only  by  sporadic  and  transient 
disturbances  that  may  occasionally  arise  in  the 
confusion  and  disorder  of  her  great  urban  centres. 
To  disclose  the  cause  of  this  exceptional  state 
of  France,  we  need  seek  no  further  than  the  fact 
that,  unlike  some  other  nations,  she  has  preserved 
the  security  of  that  great  interest  and  industry 
that  gives  steady,  healthful,  and  virtue-preserving 
employment  directly  to  nearly  two  thirds  of  her 
people,  with  its  indirect  influence  to  nearly 
four-fifths  of  the  whole  population  of  the  nation. 
The  wisdom  of  her  statesmen,  perhaps  enlight- 
ened by  a  severe  experience,  has  taught  them  that 
the  stability  of  the  state  is  securely  assured  so 
long  as  agriculture  is  preserved  and  maintained 
as  the  supreme  industry  and  interest  of  the  nation. 
Experience  has  taught  them  that,  no  matter 
what  may  be  the  periodic  tempests  of  social  and 
political  passion  that  may  sweep  with  their  de- 
structive and  indiscriminate  fury  through  her 
political  centres,  the  contented,  diligent,  and  un- 
corrupted  tillers  of  the  soil  spread  over  the  face 
of  her  fair  land  will  soon  securely  replace  the 
nation  on  her  wonted  pathway  to  a  higher  destiny, 
repairing  the  self-inflicted  injuries,  and  infusing 
a  purer  life  into  the  seething  centres  of  corrup- 
tion and  sedition,  and  the  whole  nation  will  thus 


178  Rural  versus  Urban 

emerge  to  a  higher  and  better  state  through  this 
eHmination  of  an  excessive  ferment  of  urban  vice. 

A  further  recourse  to  statistics  clearly  shows, 
that  not  only  were  the  salutary  purposes  of  these 
preservative  measures  fully  realized,  but  in  their 
operation  no  injury  or  disturbance  was  visited 
upon  other  cardinal  industries  and  interests  of  the 
nation.  We  find  that  the  policy  of  this  country  of 
protecting  her  agriculture  not  only  did  not  retard 
the  growth  of  the  urban  element,  but  that,  in  fact, 
there  was  an  actual  increase  in  the  proportion  it 
bore  to  the  whole  population  of  the  nation,  during 
the  thirty  years  from  1870  to  1900.  Thus  the  pro- 
portion of  the  urban  population  to  the  whole,  which 
was  twenty-six  percent,  in  1870,  rose  to  thirty-five 
per  cent,  in  1900.  This  can  be  accounted  for  by 
the  fact  that,  during  this  era,  infected  with  that 
city-building  mania  prevalent  throughout  the 
world,  no  protective  measure  could  wholly  avert 
the  effects  of  those  powerful  influences  that  in 
other  nations  produced  such  inordinate  results. 

In  France,  as  in  other  countries,  the  cities  no 
doubt  received  a  stimulating  impulse  from  that 
extraordinary  increase  in  appropriations  and  ex- 
penditures which,  in  common  with  other  nations, 
forms  such  a  striking  feature  of  all  governments 
during  the  past  half  century.      To  such  colossal 


Agriculture  in  France  179 

proportions  have  they  at  last  grown  that  they  are 
awakening  the  gravest  solicitude  among  states- 
men and  economists.  It  may  perhaps  be  deemed 
unnecessary  to  here  point  to  the  truth,  so  obvious 
does  it  seem  to  be,  that  these  stupendous  expen- 
ditures by  governments  operate  distinctly,  and 
more  powerfully,  to  promote  the  growth  of  the 
urban  than  the  rural  element  of  a  nation. 

As  France  ever  preserves  the  integrity,  vitality, 
and  vigor  of  her  overshadowing  industry,  we  need 
not  marvel  at  the  miracle  wrought  by  her  agri- 
culturists, that  out  of  their  abundant  reserve 
resources  they  made  possible  the  speedy  liquida- 
tion of  a  colossal  war  indemnity,  and  that  from 
time  to  time  she  has  been  enabled  to  give  aid 
also  to  other  commercial  nations,  to  appease  their 
financial  embarrassments ;  and  this,  while  the  agri- 
culturists of  Great  Britain  could  indulge  in  no 
other  hope  or  aim  than  to  minimize  their  losses, 
discharge  their  tax  obligations,  and  meet  the 
burden  of  their  poor-rates. 

As  further  evidence  of  the  prosperity  of  this 
class  in  France,  it  is  well  known  that  when  a  mere 
fragment  of  a  hectare  of  land  is  offered  for  sale  in 
that  country,  it  awakens  the  keenest  competition 
among  the  many  who  desire  to  possess  it.  Still 
further,  as  a  more  substantial  and  tangible  measure 


i8o  Rural  versus  Urban 

of  this  prosperity,  it  must  be  noted  that  the  agri- 
cultural wealth  of  France,  whose  whole  area  is  not 
greater  than  that  of  a  single  State  in  the  United 
States,  and  with  less  than  half  the  population  of 
our  country,  exceeds  by  several  billions  of  dollars 
our  own  aggregate  agricultural  wealth,  with  our 
vastly  superior  domain  of  cultivated  and  fertile 
lands.  Yet  more,  it  is  the  prosperous  peasantry 
in  France  that  hold  the  larger  part  of  the  colossal 
volume  of  government  rentes. 

A  condition  of  agriculture  in  a  nation  such  as 
brings  honor  as  a  pursuit  with  sure  and  ample 
rewards  in  its  exercise,  in  an  age  when  it  is  a  gen- 
eral custom  to  favor  and  ennoble  other  occupations 
by  governmental  patronage  and  pubHc  sentiment, 
depressing  husbandry  into  such  a  state  of  decline 
and  disrepute  that  "Hodge"  in  England  and  "Hay- 
seed" in  America  have  become  terms  expressive 
of  popular  contempt,  is  a  spectacle  so  extraordi- 
nary that  it  excites  no  less  our  curiosity  than  it 
awakens  our  desire  to  know  through  what  special 
causes  it  was  created,  and  by  what  general  policy 
it  was  maintained. 

In  an  effort  to  explain  a  paradox  so  striking,  we 
feel  sure  that  you  will  excuse  a  seeming  needless 
recapitulation  of  what  has  previously  been  pointed 
out,  touching  the  rise  and  growth  of  agriculture 


Agriculture  in  France  i8i 

in  its  varied  phases.  We  have  shown  that  the 
culture  of  the  soil,  or  even  the  pastoral  pursuit,  in 
its  inception  can  be  carried  on  only  under  the 
protecting  aegis  of  a  military  power,  the  centre 
of  which  is  usually  a  fortified  hill  town.  There 
thus,  incidentally,  grew  out  of  this  fundamental 
necessity  that  assemblage  of  scattered  agricultural 
units  wherein  there  developed  those  special  forms 
of  labor  that  secure  the  highest  economic  results 
to  the  whole  community,  embarrassed  only  by 
the  existence  of  an  indispensable  miHtary  power 
and  spirit.  By  the  gradual,  or  perhaps  forcible, 
extension  of  influence  or  power  of  some  more 
favorably  conditioned  tribe  or  race  over  a  body 
of  greater  or  less  extended  groups  of  agriculture, 
under  a  more  or  less  effective  administrative  unity, 
the  special  attending  military  element  of  each 
becomes  merged  imder  a  centralized  form  also. 
The  removal,  therefore,  of  this  inhering  miHtary 
necessity,  with  its  cost  and  inconvenience,  leaves 
each  agricultural  group,  in  its  collective  form, 
the  free  and  full  exercise  of  all  its  civic  forces 
and  functions  xinder  purely  economic  influences 
and  conditions. 

Out  of  such  inchoative  confederation  there 
ultimately  crystallizes  the  state,  whose  paternal, 
political,  and  military  care,  when  justly  admin- 


1 82  Rural  versus  Urban 

istered,  insures  to  the  collective  agricultural 
groups  composing  it  the  most  perfect  condition 
under  which  husbandry  can  exist.  There  are  no 
authentic  annals  from  which  any  accurate  idea  can 
be  deduced  as  to  the  industrial  institutions  of  the 
many  primitive  and  warring  Gallic  tribes  that  in 
ancient  times  formed  what  now  constitutes  the 
domain  of  France  and  were  its  ancient  progenitors. 
Unfortunately,  along  with  all  other  races,  they 
shared  the  common  fate  at  the  hands  of  the  early 
historian,  who  disdained  to  portray  the  prosaic 
affairs  and  incidents  of  industrial  life,  and  con- 
fined himself  to  the  more  congenial  task  of  an  epic 
recital  of  the  many  personal  exploits,  political 
and  military  contests  and  strifes,  and  the  social 
doings  of  the  chieftains  and  leaders  of  the  nations- 
That  the  early  Gallic  tribes  and  races  were  dif- 
fused throughout  their  territory  in  greater  or  less 
concentrated  agricultural  groups,  similar  to  all  races 
and  tribes  in  their  primitive  state,  is  indirectly 
supported  by  vague  historical  data.  It  was  no 
doubt  due  to  the  concentration  of  the  military 
element  of  these  individual  agricultural  centres 
that  the  united  Gallic  tribes  so  long  resisted  the 
invincible  legions  of  Rome,  under  the  matchless 
leadership  of  the  great  Csesar.  We  are  left,  how- 
ever,  solely   to  conjecture  whether  the  present 


Agriculture  in  France  183 

highly  organized  and  developed  system  of  French 
agriculture  arose  out  of  an  ancestral  legacy,  or 
whether  by  a  spontaneous  generative  process  it 
grew  out  of  the  habits,  customs,  and  special  apti- 
tudes that  are  innate  in  this  people.  Be  that 
as  it  may,  nowhere  in  the  Western  world  do  we 
find  such  skilful  division  and  subdivision,  or  such 
thorough  and  effective  grouping  of  the  entire  agri- 
cultural body  and  forces  of  a  nation  as  is  revealed 
in  modem  France. 

By  the  aid  of  statistics,  some  idea  of  this  system 
may  be  formed.  We  find  that  in  1900  there  were 
in  France  over  eighteen  thousand  communes  and 
towns  with  a  population  not  exceeding  five  hun- 
dred, representing  a  total  of  over  five  millions. 
Of  those  above  five  hundred  and  not  exceeding 
one  thousand  inhabitants,  there  were  ten  thousand 
with  an  aggregate  population  of  seven  millions, 
and  of  those  above  one  thousand  and  not  exceed- 
ing two  thousand  inhabitants,  there  were  over  five 
thousand  with  an  aggregate  population  of  seven 
millions.  Therefore,  we  find  that  her  agricultural 
body  is  divided  into  over  thirty-three  thousand 
communes  and  towns,  with  a  combined  total  of  over 
twenty-two  millions  of  people.  There  are,  besides, 
over  two  thousand  communes  and  towns  whose 
population  does  not  exceed  four  thousand,  which 


1 84  Rural  versus  Urban 

number  over  eight  millions,  and  of  which  the  rural 
element  doubtless  constitutes  a  large  proportion, 
or  may  be  largely  in  the  ascendant. 

In  the  official  statistics,  it  is  shown  that  the  rural 
population  in  France  was,  in  1900,  over  twenty- 
three  millions,  and  the  urban  population  was 
sixteen  millions.  We  believe  we  may  properly 
assume  that  in  towns  of  five  thousand  inhabitants 
and  upward,  the  strictly  urban  element  became 
the  ascendent  one,  and  in  towns  and  communes 
under  five  thousand  the  rural  element  was  the 
prevailing  one. 

We  find,  therefore,  the  towns  and  communes  of 
five  thousand  inhabitants  and  upward  ntmibered 
a  little  over  five  hundred,  with  a  total  population 
of  eleven  millions.  Thus  we  see  that  in  a  total 
population  of  the  nation  of  thirty-nine  millions, 
in  1900,  there  are  classed  as  rural  twenty-four 
millions,  and  as  urban  fifteen  millions  of  people. 
This  gives  five  hundred  and  fifty  cities  with  a 
population  of  five  thousand  and  upwards,  and  a 
total  of  thirteen  millions,  in  which  the  strictly 
urban  element  predominates ;  and  thirty-five  thou- 
sand three  hundred  towns  and  communes  under 
five  thousand  inhabitants,  with  a  total  of  twenty- 
eight  millions  of  people,  in  which  the  strictly  rural 
element  is  the  greatest. 


Agriculture  in  France  185 

We  have  heretofore  shown  how,  by  reason  of  a 
closer  and  more  intimate  association  pecuHar  to 
urban  life,  the  political  element  of  it  crystallizes 
into  such  an  available,  compact,  and  homogeneous 
form  as  to  enable  it  to  be  wielded  at  will,  with  an 
effect  far  transcending  that  of  a  like  number  of 
units  existing  in  an  agricultural  body  in  a  diffused 
form.  We  have  also  pointed  out  that,  along  with 
a  vast  increase  in  economic  advantages,  in  virtue 
of  a  differentiation  of  the  varied  forces  of  agri- 
culture in  its  collective  form,  there  developed  also 
a  corresponding  increase  in  political  influence  in 
national  affairs.  It  was  in  this  capacity  of  French 
agriculture  to  organize  its  entire  political  forces 
into  a  more  united  and  available  body  that  lay 
the  power  to  repel  all  influences  that  might  oper- 
ate to  disturb  its  just  relation  to,  and  a  permanent 
harmony  with,  all  the  productive  forces  of  the 
nation's  industries,  insuring  a  stability  and  a 
measure  of  prosperity  not  only  to  itself,  but  to 
the  whole  country,  without  precedent  among  the 
nations.  In  brief,  it  is  this  distinctive  feature 
of  it  that  secures  a  commensurate  power  in  the 
legislative  affairs  of  the  nation,  and  which  pre- 
served the  French  farmers,  in  those  trying  days, 
from  the  disasters  that  fell  upon  the  agriculture  of 
other  countries. 


1 86  Rural  versus  Urban 

It  may  be  well  to  specifically  trace  the  practical 
manner  in  which  this  protection  is  effected,  and 
yet  so  adjusted  as  to  prove  injurious  to  none  of 
the  many  other  industries  and  material  interests 
of  the  nation.  One  special  instance  may  serve  to 
fully  illustrate  the  assiduous  care  that  this  nation 
vigilantly  exercises,  not  only  to  safeguard  the 
rural  element  of  the  country  against  unjust  en- 
croachments upon  it  from  whatever  source,  but 
to  maintain  an  equal  balance  between  all  the 
productive  forces  throughout  the  whole  sphere 
of  her  industrial  life. 

From  that  almost  constant  relation  of  internal 
productive  and  consumptive  capacities,  attained 
and  preserved  in  this  nation,  she  is  under  the 
perpetual  necessity  of  importing  the  raw  material, 
essential  to  the  uses  of  her  citizens,  which  she  does 
not  produce,  and  many  food  products  also  which 
are  largely  cultivated  by  her  own  farmers.  This 
margin  of  excess  on  the  one  hand,  or  deficiency 
on  the  other,  thus  tends  to  effect  in  some  degree 
the  value  of  her  own  home  products  of  a  similar 
nature. 

As  an  initial  product,  we  will  again  take  wheat  to 
illustrate  this  compensatory  action.  It  scarcely 
calls  for  mention,  so  obvious  is  the  fact,  that 
it  is  to  the  personal  interests  of  the  cities  to  pur- 


Agriculture  in  France  187 

chase  their  food,  supplies  at  the  least  possible 
cost,  and  per  contra,  reciprocally,  it  is  as  essential 
to  the  interests  of  the  rural  classes  to  receive  the 
highest  obtainable  price.  It  is  manifest  that  it  is 
in  the  battle-field  of  prices  between  the  conflicting 
forces  of  special  necessities  in  a  nation  that  the 
true  relation  of  urban  and  rural  rights  and  interests 
is  determined  and  established.  This,  you  will 
perceive,  is  always  upon  the  assumption  that  the 
contending  forces  are  of  a  natural,  and  not  ab- 
normal, character.  Any  undue  advantage  of  the 
one  over  the  other,  even  though  temporary  in  na- 
ture, must  unsettle  the  uniform  stability  of  related 
interests  so  essential  to  conserve  the  healthy  con- 
dition of  the  whole  economic  body,  and  through 
which  alone  can  be  reached  the  largest  volume 
and  highest  beneficial  results  to  the  collective 
activities  of  the  nation. 

Thus  if,  by  variant  and  physical  climatic  causes, 
the  crops  of  France  should  fall  materially  below 
the  average,  there  would  be  a  tendency  towards 
higher  prices  for  the  producer.  But  such  increase 
in  price  would  unfavorably  affect  the  urban  in- 
terests, which  have  become  adjusted  to  the  ruling 
influence  of  less  average  prices.  On  the  other 
hand,  should  there,  through  adventitious  causes, 
be  produced  an  excess  above  the  normal  average 


1 88  Rural  versus  Urban 

of  the  yield  of  crops,  there  would  similarly  be  a  ten- 
dency to  a  fall  in  prices  below  the  average,  which 
would  in  a  like  manner  operate  to  the  detriment 
of  the  rural,  and  to  the  advantage  of  the  urban 
classes.  By  an  elastic  tariff  system,  the  auto- 
matic operations  of  which  are  tempered  to  current 
exigencies,  an  increase  or  decrease  in  total  supplies 
can  be  effected  at  will,  and  the  uniform  relation 
of  all  the  industries  of  the  nation  so  long  prevail- 
ing is  thus  maintained. 

How  perfect  in  action  and  decisive  in  effect 
were  these  regulative  measures  is  proved  by  the 
fact  that,  as  we  have  seen,  the  extreme  mean  vari- 
ation in  the  mean  price  of  the  important  cereal 
wheat  was,  for  sixty  years,  only  six  cents  per 
bushel.  It  must  be  specially  remembered  that, 
during  the  last  thirty  years  of  this  period,  there 
was,  as  we  have  shown,  such  a  phenomenal  in- 
crease elsewhere  in  the  products  of  the  soil  as  never 
before  had  been  experienced  and  that,  in  other 
countries,  produced  wide  and  disastrous  fluctua- 
tions in  values.  The  compact  and  well  co-ordi- 
nated industrial  forces  of  France,  with  their  resist- 
ing powers,  remind  one  of  nothing  so  much  as 
the  small,  well-ordered,  and  organized  armies  of 
Greece,  that  always  withstood  the  shock  of  over- 
whelming,   though   irregular   and    unformulated 


Agriculture  in  France  189 

Asiatic  hosts,  that,  as  an  historian  says,  "relied 
more  upon  numbers  than  courage,  and  more  on 
courage  than  discipHne." 

It  must  be  evident  to  you  that  these  well-equi- 
librated economies  of  France,  the  final  evolution 
of  the  free  and  imiform  operation  of  natural  causes 
and  laws,  could  have  been  shattered  by  suddenly 
subjecting  them  to  the  force  of  abnormal  internal 
or  external  influences.  It  is  an  interesting  reflec- 
tion, as  to  what  would  have  been  the  ultimate 
result  had  she  submitted  her  industrial  system 
to  the  same  distracting  forces  of  a  fierce  and  un- 
natural competition  that  Great  Britain  incau- 
tiously permitted  to  impinge  upon  her  own.  We 
believe  that  we  correctly  define  it  as  an  unnatural 
competition,  since  we  have  shown  that  the  torrent 
of  American  agricultural  products,  of  the  last 
thirty  years,  was  wholly  due  to  the  confluence  of 
exceptional  and  transitory  conditions,  and  the 
perversion  of  trade  and  natural  laws. 

Had  France  thus  followed  the  example  of  her 
neighbor,  we  should  no  doubt  have  witnessed  the 
same  rapid  transformation  of  her  whole  industrial 
system  as  occurred  in  the  United  Kingdom.  There 
would  doubtless  have  risen  the  same  commercial 
democracy  on  the  ruins  of  a  long  cherished  agri- 
culture.    She  no  doubt  would  have  had  a  wider 


I90  Rural  versus  Urban 

commerce  and  a  greater  commercial  marine,  larger 
and  more  nimierous  cities,  embellished  with  an 
impossible  architecture,  and  last,  but  not  least, 
a  numerous  and  indigent  proletariat  concentrated 
in  the  cities,  that  possessed  no  other  asset  than 
a  franchise  ever  available  to  wealth.  We  would, 
perhaps,  have  witnessed  also  those  same  inter- 
necine struggles  that  are  now  raging  in  Great 
Britain,  between  the  two  dominant  classes,  in 
which,  on  the  one  hand,  is  revealed  the  effort  to 
retain,  and,  on  the  other,  to  recover,  the  wealth 
wrongly  diverted  and  distributed  by  various 
artificial  methods  and  laws,  and  which  seems 
destined  to  subvert  every  constitutional  and 
traditional   principle   of   the   government. 

In  fact,  is  not  this  conflict  the  necessary  outcome 
of  a  violation  of  that  essential  harmony  of  interests 
on  which  rest  the  permanence  and  stability  of 
all  organic  forms,  and  upon  which  even  the  state 
itself  depends?  This  must  be  so,  if  there  lies  any 
validity  in  the  principle  of  a  just  coalition  of  all 
their  active  constituent  members.  Fiuther,  is  it  not 
precisely  the  effort  to  restore  this  imbalanced  har- 
mony by  an  equable  redistribution  of  wealth  that  in 
essence  constitutes  the  seditions,  convulsions,  and 
revolutions  that  unfortimately  too  often  arise  with- 
in nations,  ending  in  their  ultimate  disruption  ? 


XII 

AGRICULTURE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

I  ET  us  now  consider,  for  a  moment,  some  of  the 
■■— '  conspicuous  effects  visible  in  our  own  country 
directly  traceable  to  the  sudden  and  abnormal 
development  of  the  latent  agricidtural  resources 
of  the  Trans-Mississippi  territory.  We  must  first 
note  the  general  effect,  as  disclosed  in  the  une- 
qual ratio  of  increase  in  population  and  products, 
of  the  rural  and  urban  sections  of  the  nation  re- 
spectively. We  find  that  while,  from  1870  to  1900, 
the  population  of  the  cities  alone  exceeding  twenty- 
five  thousand  inhabitants  increased  over  two 
and  one  half  times,  the  whole  population  during 
this  time  increased  only  eighty-eight  per  cent. 
An  even  greater  disparity  is  shown  in  the  increased 
products  of  the  two  classes  during  this  time,  as 
we  find  that  the  growth  of  manufactured  articles 
alone  was  over  threefold,  while  that  of  the  farms 
was  less  than  half  as  much.  The  total  value  of 
the  one,  in  fact,  for  the  year  1900  being  less  than 

191 


192  Rural  versus  Urban 

five  billions  of  dollars,  and  that  of  the  other 
exceeding  thirteen  billions. 

In  our  former  analysis  of  the  growth  of  agricul- 
ture, we  have  classed  it  in  two  distinct  conditions, 
namely,  that  wherein  the  natural  deterrent  causes 
limited  it  to  a  slow,  though  constant  and  steady 
development ;  and  the  other  where,  through  a  con- 
junction of  exceptional  natural  and  artificial  causes, 
there  was  temporarily  an  unlimited  rapidity  of 
development.  Yet  you  must  observe  that  the 
latter  condition,  in  its  very  nature,  could  exist  only 
in  a  limited  degree  both  as  to  extent  and  time, 
and  its  abnormal  effects  coiild  not,  therefore, 
indefinitely  be  extended.  However,  in  its  brief 
existence,  it  could  work  such  serious  confusions 
and  disorders  among  all  the  productive  factors  in 
the  established  industrial  forces  that  had  evolved 
out  of  the  former  or  natural  condition,  that  it 
may  require  years  of  imited  and  unselfish  effort 
to  readjust  and  restore,  if  indeed  the  disorder  has 
not  already  passed  beyond  human  power  to  remedy 
or  rectify. 

Reduced  to  its  simplest  terms,  this  is  just  what 
constitutes  the  political  and  economic  tumult 
now  waging  in  Great  Britain,  and  which  we  may 
only  too  soon  see  repeated  in  our  own  country. 
It  is  impossible  for  a  state  to  preserve  a  real  and 


Agriculture  in  the  United  States  193 

general  prosperity,  or  even  a  stability,  of  its  politi- 
cal institutions,  in  which  there  is  suffered  to  exist 
a  wide  and  pronounced  divergence  in  the  wealth 
and  power  of  the  rural  and  urban  classes,  the 
distribution  of  which  was  the  direct  product  of 
exceptional  and  transient  natural  conditions, 
united  with  artificial  influences,  methods,  and 
discriminating  laws.  If,  in  Great  Britain,  the 
indirect  transference  of  a  large  part  of  the  wealth 
of  agriculturists  to  unduly  augment  that  of 
the  urban  classes  has  caused  such  national 
ferment,  what  may  we  not  expect  will  be  the  result 
in  a  country  such  as  our  own,  where  a  transference 
like  in  nature  has  taken  place  to  a  far  greater 
extent,  and  in  a  more  aggravated  form? 

In  the  development  of  agriculture  throughout 
the  whole  region  east  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
except  in  the  prairie  area  of  Illinois,  we  have  seen 
that  its  progress  was  ever  retarded  from  the  earli- 
est times  by  natural  limitations  and  restraints. 
It  was,  therefore,  of  such  nature  as  to  render  any 
period  of  abrupt  expansion  impossible,  its  advance 
being  constant  and  uniform,  and  the  volume  of 
its  products  of  necessity  increased  only  by  steady 
increments.  It  was  upon  the  region  east  of  the 
Mississippi  River  that  the  prolific  outflow  of  cheap 

products  fell  most  heavily  with  its  withering  effects. 
13 


194  Rural  versus  Urban 

What  these  effects  were,  due  to  this  superfluity 
of  products,  it  may  be  necessary  to  again  briefly 
recapitulate. 

Of  the  staple  cereals  there  was  produced  in  that 
territory  alone,  in  thirty  years  from  1870  to  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century,  a  period  that 
marks  the  most  rapid  expansion  of  agricultural 
operations,  an  aggregate  volume  largely  in  excess 
of  that  prior  to  this  time  in  the  whole  history 
of  the  country.  Although  increasing  in  a  less 
marked  ratio,  the  same  must  be  said  of  cotton  and 
other  products.  Recourse  to  statistics  is  again  es- 
sential to  realize  clearly  what  were  the  disastrous 
results  of  this  superabundant  weight  upon  the 
entire  agricultural  interests  east  of  the  Mississippi 
River.  In  the  distribution  of  a  nation's  varied 
industrial  products,  we  have  seen  that  no  increase 
or  diminution  in  the  volume  of  any  one  can  mili- 
tate against  any  special,  or  the  general,  interest, 
so  long  as  they  are  controlled  and  determined 
by  salutary  trade,  and  the  untrammelled  action  of 
natural  laws.  This  must  be  true,  since  all  sound 
trade  operations,  in  their  final  and  complete  forms, 
are  based  on  a  mutual  exchange  of  products  under 
conditions  where  the  greatest  correlative  benefits 
are  assured. 

By  nature's  conserving  tendencies,  a  just  bal- 


Agriculture  in  the  United  States  195 

ance  will  be  speedily  restored  where  the  true  order 
of  supply  and  demand  has  been  disturbed  through 
an  abnormal  state  of  either.  It  is  where  perverted 
trade  laws  can  be  applied  to  exceptional  natural 
conditions,  that  there  develop  the  widest  variant 
results  in  the  cardinal  industries  of  a  people,  such 
as  create  not  only  an  antagonism  between  them, 
but  also  among  the  integral  parts  of  the  several 
industries  themselves.  We  must  again  recur  to 
what  is  perhaps  the  most  signal  illustration  of 
this  in  the  whole  history  of  industry. 

It  must  be  well  remembered  that  in  our  division 
of  the  whole  coimtry,  we  have  done  so  both  on  a 
physical  and  a  time  basis.  The  one  is  concerned 
with  that  portion  of  the  territory  lying  east  of 
the  Mississippi  River,  comprising  a  region  where 
agriculture  of  necessity  could  grow  only  at  a 
steady  and  strictly  limited  rate  of  progress.  The 
other  is  a  territory  whose  exceptional  uniform- 
ity in  quality  and  fertility  of  soil,  together  with 
other  peculiar  characteristics,  made  a  rapid  and 
almost  unlimited  rate  of  development  temporarily 
possible. 

The  time  limitations  we  have  assumed  cover, 
on  the  one  hand,  the  period  of  thirty  years,  from 
1840  to  1870,  coincident  with  that  in  which  the 
progress  of  agriculture  yet  remained  measurably 


196  Rural  versus  Urban 

under  natural  influences  and  restrictions.  The 
other  is  coeval  with  the  real  beginning  and  full 
fruition  of  those  combined  causes  that  accelerated 
in  such  striking  degree  the  products  of  agriculture, 
with  its  radical  transformations  throughout  the 
whole  field  of  our  country's  industry.  To  avoid  a 
needless  elaboration  of  detail,  we  will  in  our  com- 
parisons confine  oiu"  data  to  the  staple  cereals 
which  supply  a  fair  index  as  to  the  many  other 
and  important  products  of  the  soil  during  these 
respective  periods. 

Official  statistics  show  that,  during  the  first 
thirty-year  period,  there  were  produced  approxi- 
mately four  billion  bushels  of  wheat,  eighteen 
billions  of  Indian  com,  and  four  and  one  half 
billions  of  oats.  As  there  was  during  the  whole 
period  a  steady  export  of  a  not  inconsiderable 
surplus,  it  is  apparent  that  the  productive  capacity 
of  the  region  east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  imder 
natural  conditions,  was  more  than  sufficient  to 
meet  the  necessities  of  the  entire  cotmtry,  as  the 
excess  of  production  of  grain  west  of  that  river 
was,  during  that  period,  an  inappreciable  part 
of  the  whole.  On  the  other  hand,  we  find  that  in 
the  second  period,  from  1870  to  the  beginning  of 
the  present  century,  there  were  produced  of  wheat 
twelve  and  one  half  billions  of  bushels,  of  Indian 


Agriculture  in  the  United  States  197 

com  forty -four  billions,  and  of  oats  seventeen 
billions.  Furthermore,  as  directly  bearing  upon 
the  all-important  question  of  excessive  supply, 
statistics  show  that  of  the  aggregate  product  of 
the  staple  cereals,  from  1840  to  1870,  there  was 
a  per  capita  production  of  eight  hundred  and  sixty 
bushels,  measured  by  the  total  mean  population 
of  the  country  during  that  time.  For  the  period 
from  1870  to  1900,  there  is  revealed  a  per  capita 
product  of  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty 
bushels,  or  nearly  seventy  per  cent,  greater  than 
that  of  the  earlier  period,  computed  by  a  like  scale 
of  measurement.  And  yet  the  agricultural 
population  relative  to  the  total  population  of  the 
nation  was  much  greater  during  the  first  period 
than  in  the  second. 

We  believe  you  will  find  a  retrospective  and 
hypothetical  estimate,  at  this  point,  at  least  inter- 
esting, even  if  incapable  of  practical  verification. 
Assuming  that  the  lands  west  of  the  Mississippi 
River  were  possessed  of  the  same  fertility,  and 
that  they  were  subject  to  the  same  obstacles 
in  the  way  of  their  reclamation  as  were  en- 
countered in  the  lands  east  of  it,  an  instructive 
lesson  at  least  may  be  drawn  from  the  theoretical 
computation  of  the  results  that  would  have  been 
attained  in  the  agriculture  of  our  country  up  to 


198  Rural  versus  Urban 

that  time.  Applying  the  same  per  capita  pro- 
duction that  obtained  in  the  first  period,  we  find 
that  the  total  volume  of  the  three  staple  cereals, 
during  the  second  period,  would  have  been  forty- 
seven  billions  of  bushels,  instead  of  nearly  seventy- 
four  billions  that  were  actually  produced  during 
that  time.  In  making  this  comparison,  great 
as  is  the  contrast  shown,  it  would  become  still 
greater  were  it  practicable  to  properly  allocate 
in  our  reckoning  that  surplus  product  of  Illinois 
directly  due  to  the  greater  facility  with  which  her 
prairie  lands  could  be  reclaimed.  So  completely 
were  they  redeemed  in  1870,  that  we  have  chosen 
to  include  that  State  thereafter  as  properly  within 
the  group  of  older  States,  having  at  that  time 
reached  almost  the  full  limit  where  any  rapid 
ratio  of  increase  was  possible,  as  subsequent 
statistics  show. 

We  have  before  stated  that  in  the  first,  or  what 
might  properly  be  called  the  period  of  natural 
development,  there  was  an  agricultural  output 
in  excess  of  domestic  wants,  leaving  a  surplus 
to  be  consumed  in  foreign  countries.  It  will  there- 
fore be  readily  realized  what  must  have  been  the 
depressing  influence  of  the  excessive  products  of 
agriculture  in  the  second,  or  forcing  period.  From 
this  glut  there  was  no  relief,  save  only  to  such 


Agriculture  in  the  United  States  199 

degree  as  foreign  countries  found  it  to  their  in- 
terests to  absorb  an  otherwise  aknost  useless 
surplus, — a  relief  both  precarious  and  inadequate. 

It  might,  in  view  of  this  absorption  of  so 
large  and  redundant  an  excess,  be  fairly  held 
that  it  was  in  foreign  markets  that  the  price  of 
the  output,  during  these  years,  was  determined 
for  the  agriculturist  of  the  United  States.  This 
would  imply  that  to  be  a  natural  and  just 
one,  an  exchange  of  commodities  by  the  agricultur- 
ist of  our  country  required  that  it  should  be  done 
on  free  and  mutual  terms  with  those  countries 
in  which  was  fixed  the  value  of  his  own  products. 
Unfortunately  for  him,  that  condition  of  ex- 
change was  not  permitted  to  prevail,  nor  does  it 
now  exist. 

As  further  emphasis  of  this  great  disparity 
of  production,  there  is  yet  to  be  recorded  the 
fact  that  during  the  latter,  or  period  of  excessive 
production,  the  agricultural  classes  grew  rela- 
tively smaller  in  numbers,  and  those  engaged  in 
non-agricultural  occupations  grew  in  a  marked  in- 
creased ratio.  In  the  comparative  estimate  we  have 
given  of  the  two  periods,  the  same  ratio  equally 
applies  to  the  many  other  products  of  the  soil, 
which  will  largely  add  to  the  great  difference  re- 
vealed in  the  cereals,  making  a  total  disparity 


200  Rural  versus  Urban 

truly  colossal.  Under  this  hypothesis,  considering 
the  disabilities  imposed  upon  agriculture  and  the 
rapid,  unequal  advance  in  the  non- agricultural 
element  of  the  nation,  it  would  seem  a  fair  infer- 
ence that  the  latter  has  anticipated  by  many  de- 
cades its  expectancy,  and  has  availed  itself  of  an 
undue  part  of  the  wealth  that  was  contained  in 
the  latent  resources  of  the  lands,  and  which  should 
have  been  ultimately  shared  equally  by  all. 

It  is  a  notable  fact,  and  often  referred  to  now 
with  mingled  regret  and  alarm,  that  the  fertility 
of  the  soil  was  not  maintained  during  this  era  of 
the  country's  startling  outburst  of  rural  products. 
Rather  has  it  declined,  a  fact  that  is  already 
causing  serious  concern  as  to  its  near  effects  upon 
our  future  supply.  In  truth,  what  motive  was 
there  to  induce  the  overweighted  farmer  of  the 
East  and  elsewhere  to  replenish  the  soil  of  his 
unremunerative  farm,  during  this  period  of  affluent 
production  in  the  new  regions  of  the  West  ?  It 
was  a  simpler  problem  for  him  to  remove  to  that 
region,  and  occupy  a  new  farm  with  its  ripe  and 
fertile  resources,  at  a  mere  nominal  cost,  or  as  a 
free  gift  from  the  government,  than  to  maintain 
at  great  labor  and  cost  the  fertility  of  the  old 
one,  with  its  biurden  of  long  accumulated  fixed 
investments. 


Agriculture  in  the  United  States  201 

Our  hypothesis  opens  a  wide  field  of  speculative 
inquiry,  in  which  there  is  no  more  important  con- 
sideration than  what  would  have  been  the  present 
relation  of  the  rural  and  urban  elements  of  our 
country,  had  no  abnormal  disturbing  influences 
supervened. 

As  to  this,  it  must  readily  be  admitted  that  the 
proportion  of  the  urban  would  have  been  rela- 
tively less  important  than  it  is  now.  There  would 
be  fewer  and  smaller  cities,  less  mileage  of  railways 
and  other  means  of  general  intercommunication, 
and  a  more  limited  number  of  other  industries 
peculiar  to  urban  life.  There  would,  however, 
not  exist  that  surplus  investment  in  buildings  and 
over-ornate  structures,  or  other  creations  which 
are  the  instruments  of  needless  extravagance, 
solely  to  administer  to  a  morbid  desire  for  an 
indulgence  in  excessive  luxury.  Their  wealth, 
moreover,  being  instead  dependent,  in  origin 
and  support,  more  upon  creative  and  constructive 
influences,  based  upon  lasting  and  fundamental 
necessities,  would  be  of  a  more  real  and  perma- 
nent nature  than  now,  and  therefore  less  of  a  specu- 
lative, artificial,  and  tentative  character,  and  far 
more  certain  and  constant  in  remunerative  returns. 
In  their  trade  operations  there  would  be  a  lessened 
danger  of  those  financial  reversions  and  revulsions 


202  Rural  versus  Urban 

that  now  all  too  frequently  daze  and  distract 
the  whole  nation,  with  their  sudden  alternations 
of  afHuence  and  penury,  the  enrichment  of  one 
class  being  through  the  ruin  of  another.  All  the 
affairs  of  the  cities  being  ethically  more  broadly 
based  on  just  reciprocal  rights,  relations,  and 
methods,  a  purer  and  more  healthful  economic 
and  social  atmosphere  would  pervade  the  whole, 
and  fewer  vices,  bom  of  inordinate  and  undue 
wealth  and  excessive  luxury,  would  radiate  their 
fatal  miasm  throughout  the  whole  body  politic. 

On  the  other  hand,  being  in  the  enjoyment  of  its 
full  meed  of  reward,  what  was  once  a  long  subordi- 
nated and  even  despised  agriculture  would  every- 
where display  evidences  of  highest  prosperity, 
general  thrift,  and  most  thorough  and  complete 
development.  Instead  of  a  few  arterial  lines  of  in- 
tercommunication with  their  monopolistic  grasp, 
there  would  everywhere  be  diffused  a  network  of 
efficient  and  varied  means  of  intimate  intercourse, 
suiting  the  special  wants  and  necessities  peculiar 
to  this  industry,  and  all  the  niimerous  resources 
and  aids  pertaining  to  this  art  would  be  availed 
of  in  the  fullest  manner  and  most  efficient  form. 

As  bearing  upon  that  higher  excellence  to 
which  agriculture  would  thus  have  attained  under 
this  hypothesis,  and  especially  in   the   develop- 


Agriculture  in  the  United  States  203 

ment  of  a  more  complete,  thorough,  and  varied 
system  of  internal  intercourse,  we  must  again 
cite  the  example  of  France.  In  that  country, 
under  the  conditions  of  her  agriculture,  which  are 
not  unlike  those  which  we  have  assumed  would 
have  existed  in  our  own,  she  has  created  within 
the  compass  of  her  small  territory  (its  whole  extent 
being  40,000  square  miles  less  than  that  of  our 
own  State  of  Texas)  more  than  half  a  million  of 
miles  of  the  most  perfect  highways,  and  over 
twenty-five  thousand  miles  of  canal  and  canal- 
ized water-courses,  whose  services  almost  wholly 
contribute  to  the  special  requirements  of  her 
agriculture. 

Although,  under  our  assumption,  the  agricul- 
tural and  rural  element  of  our  country  would 
be  fewer  in  number  than  now,  occupying  a 
smaller  though  far  more  highly  cultivated  area, 
having  enjoyed  the  full  and  just  rewards  of  their 
labor,  their  total  wealth  would  be  much  greater 
than  it  is  at  present,  and  the  aggregate  real  wealth 
of  the  nation  would  be  little,  if  any,  inferior  to 
what  is  now  displayed  in  its  highly  inflated  and 
artificial  form.  Most  important  of  all,  what  was 
once  a  discredited  agricultural  element  would,  in 
its  higher  development,  sustain  an  equable  and 
appropriate  relation  to  all  other  industries,   so 


204  Rural  versus  Urban 

essential  to  a  sound  status  of  the  whole,  radiating 
throughout  every  atom  and  fibre  of  the  country 
the  purifying  and  conserving  influence  of  a  healthy 
and  well  ordered  rural  life.  In  addition,  our 
nation  would  have  still  been  possessed  of  a  vast 
domain,  whose  untouched  store  of  wealth — the 
common  property  of  all — would  remain  to  meet, 
for  the  generations  to  come,  those  steady  demands 
of  a  uniform  and  truly  progressive  growth  of 
national  life. 

You  must  perceive  that  the  same  ideal  state 
we  have  depicted,  under  the  conditions  assumed, 
would  have  been  as  fully  realized  had  there  been 
a  wiser  and  more  judicious  dole  of  our  public  lands 
— even  with  their  ready  resources — such  as  would 
have  averted  that  violent  and  in  many  ways  fatal 
shock  to  which  our  whole  system  of  husbandry 
was  subjected,  producing  as  a  resultant  effect  an 
unbalanced  state  of  all  the  forces  that  constitute, 
as  a  whole,  the  economic  body  of  our  country.  In 
fact,  does  not  the  very  essence  of  the  problem 
that  now  confronts  our  country  lie  in  the  ne- 
cessity of  a  redistributing,  or  rather  restoring  to 
the  rural  element  that  fair  share  of  the  nation's 
wealth  which,  through  exceptional  conditions  and 
unequal  influence  of  laws,  was  unjustly  wrested 
from  them?     That  the  inequality  we  have  here 


Agriculture  in  the  United  States  205 

shown  is  of  no  illusory  character,  a  few  salient 
facts  and  statistics  will  confirm. 

In  considering  the  total  amoiint  of  cereals  pro- 
duced in  the  United  States  during  the  last  thirty- 
year  period,  we  find  that  approximately  forty-five 
per  cent,  of  the  whole  was  produced  in  those 
States  comprising  the  territory  east  of  the  Missis- 
sippi River.  From  the  weight  that  oppressed  the 
market,  through  the  excessive  products  of  prairie 
and  plain  lands  west  of  that  river,  a  rapid  and  radi- 
cal decline  in  their  value  ensued,  which  speedily 
carried  them  much  below  the  mean  price  that  had 
prevailed  in  the  previous  thirty -year  period.  This 
would  show  a  total  decline  in  value  of  the  wheat 
raised  in  the  eastern  section  of  our  country  of 
nearly  one  and  a  half  billions  of  dollars.  For 
Indian  corn  and  oats  combined,  the  decline  was 
in  excess  of  six  bilHons  of  dollars,  making  for  this 
group  of  cereals,  alone,  the  colossal  decline  of  ap- 
proximately eight  billions  of  dollars  from  what 
would  have  been  on  a  like  aggregate  production 
and  prices  of  these  cereals  from  1840  to  1870,  or 
before  that  period  in  which  the  redundant  outflow 
from  the  Trans-Mississippi  River  region  had  pro- 
duced any  marked  influence  on  prices. 

As  this  fatal  decline  in  value  of  their  products 
fell  most  heavily  upon  the  agriculturists  in  the 


2o6  Rural  versus  Urban 

more  eastern  section  of  the  country,  where  the 
accumulation  of  their  fixed  investments  was  great- 
est, and  which  decline  in  values  was  more  directly- 
reflected  in  the  rapid  growth  of  urban  values, 
it  is  small  wonder  that  for  every  skyscraper  rising 
in  Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia,  there 
were  to  be  seen  hundreds  of  abandoned  and  fatally 
depreciated  farms  in  New  England,  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  and  New  Jersey.  Even  the  region 
itself  that  was  the  fateful  cause  of  this  decline  was 
a  serious  sufferer  from  its  own  superabundant 
products.  Being  farther  removed  than  the  more 
eastern  section  of  the  country  from  the  great 
consimiptive  centres,  not  only  was  the  price  of 
their  products  relatively  smaller,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  of  the  supplies  they  were  compelled 
to  purchase  was  correspondingly  greater.  This 
rendered  a  net  gain,  directly  through  operations 
strictly  of  an  agricultural  nature,  even  more  im- 
possible in  the  extreme  western  than  in  the  eastern 
sections  of  the  covmtry. 

The  only  saving  grace  to  the  agriculturist  of 
the  former  region  lay  in  the  minimum  of  cost 
at  which  he  acquired  his  lands,  and  from  which 
there  was  sure  to  be  an  advance  in  price  along 
with  the  increase  in  population  and  general 
development    of    the    nation.      Yet    for    many 


Agriculture  in  the  United  States  207 

years  this,  with  few  exceptions,  represented  an  ap- 
parent and  only  nominal  gain ;  for  there  remained 
a  very  large  fixed  charge  against  these  lands 
that  the  farmer  was  forced  to  place  upon  them 
m  order  to  redress  the  losses  in  the  direct  process 
of  farming,  consequent  upon  the  low  prices  that  his 
own  excessive  production  created.  The  advance 
in  the  price  of  lands  in  this  region  was  followed, 
as  a  necessary  consequence,  from  the  same  causes, 
by  a  proportionate  decline  in  those  east  of  the 
Mississippi  River — a  much  larger  territory  than 
that  in  the  West — thus  entailing  upon  the  fixed 
landed  investment  of  the  country,  taken  as  a  whole, 
such  a  decline  as  to  leave  but  a  small  relative  gain 
in  the  entire  agricultural  values  of  the  nation 
during  that  time.  Even  through  the  recovery 
in  prices  in  the  past  few  years,  this  net  loss  in  the 
total  fixed  investment  of  agriculture  has  been  only 
measurably  restored,  or  at  least  there  has  been 
only  a  relatively  small  advance. 

This  fall  in  the  values  of  agriculture  in  the  East, 
■lollowing  in  the  nature  of  things  the  rise  in  those 
of  the  West,  can,  in  its  most  elementary  sense, 
be  considered  simply  as  a  transference  of  a  portion 
of  the  acquired,  and  to  be  acquired,  rural  wealth 
of  the  East  to  the  sections  of  the  West  receiving 
special    governmental    favors,    subjoined    to   its 


2o8  Rural  versus  Urban 

rare  natural  advantages.  This  is  what  is  only  too 
frequently  the  case  in  other  industries,  with  the 
result  that  an  apparent  gain  in  total  wealth  is 
largely  illusory;  since  there  is  a  countervailing  loss 
in  one  industry  equal  to  the  gain  in  another,  due 
to  some  unequal  advantage  tentatively  acquired 
by  one  over  the  other.  Indeed,  in  the  indus- 
trial affairs  of  the  nation,  considered  as  a  whole, 
this  is  conspicuously  illustrated,  since  in  the  vari- 
ous advantages,  acquired  and  enjoyed  too  often 
by  unfair  means  and  methods,  by  the  non-agri- 
cultural or  urban  over  the  rural  or  agricultural 
classes  of  our  country,  in  the  total  advance  in 
the  nation's  wealth  during  the  last  thirty-year 
period,  the  extraordinary  gains  of  the  former 
are  subject  to  an  offset  in  a  loss  by  the  latter, 
almost  equally  extraordinary,  during  that  time. 


XIII 

TARIFFS 

TT  is  of  the  order  of  nature's  operations  in  their 
*■  totahty  that,  in  the  long  run,  their  effects  and 
ultimate  results  must  be  in  the  strictest  harmony. 
Is  it  not  reasonable,  therefore,  to  expect  that  in 
her  efforts  to  restore  (and  thus  secure  the  stability 
of  the  whole)  a  harmony  so  violated,  she  will  do 
so  by  the  compensatory  action  of  her  laws,  giving 
to  the  agriculttirist  in  turn  such  advantage  as 
will  secure  the  redistribution  that  will  again  restore 
the  equilibrium  temporarily  unsettled  by  the  arti- 
ficial and  unnatural  advantages  wielded  by  the 
urban  classes  to  their  unequal  benefit?  In  con- 
sidering the  probability  of  such  equalizing  action, 
it  is  well  to  remember  that  history  teaches  us  that, 
in  the  affairs  of  nations,  nature  in  her  ultimate 
purposes  and  inscrutable  economy  more  often 
permits  the  ruin  of  a  people  as  a  result  of  their 
own  discordant  acts,  than  their  preservation  by 
re-established  harmony. 

X4  309 


2IO  Rural  versus  Urban 

This  is,  in  its  simplest  terms,  the  problem  that 
faces  us  in  our  own  country.  We  have  seen  that, 
in  the  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
there  was  a  decline  in  the  value  of  cereal  products 
of  nearly  eight  billions  of  dollars  in  the  last  thirty- 
year  period,  as  compared  with  the  mean  price  of 
the  three  staples  in  the  former  thirty-year  period. 
For  reasons  to  be  hereafter  noted,  the  products 
of  the  urban  classes  of  the  nation  being  preserved 
against  a  similar  decline,  this  reduced  value  of 
agriculture  in  the  East  must  be  viewed  somewhat 
in  the  nature  of  an  indirect  and  involuntary  trib- 
ute by  it  to  the  wealth  of  the  urban  or  non- 
agricultural  classes  of  the  nation,  and  more 
especially  to  those  of  the  Eastern  portion  of  it. 

But  as  there  was  produced  during  this  period 
an  equal  amount  of  cereals  in  the  Trans-Mississippi 
region  that  suffered  a  similar  decline,  the  aggre- 
gate loss  of  the  whole  country  was  thus  propor- 
tionately increased,  and  the  urban  gains  equally 
enhanced.  Add  to  these  extraordinary  figures  a 
further  large  total  due  to  the  reduced  value  of 
other  products  of  the  soil,  arising  from  the  same 
cause,  and  we  shall  have  a  colossal  aggregate 
decline,  largely  to  be  credited  to  the  gains  of  the 
urban  classes  of  the  whole  country ;  which  may  go 
far  towards  clarifying,  if  not  solving,  a  situation 


Tariffs  211 

so  paradoxical,  wherein  one  great  industrial  class, 
comprising  over  one  half  of  the  total  population 
of  the  nation,  possesses  so  small  a  share  of  its 
total  wealth.  This  is  all  the  more  perplexing 
when  we  consider  that  through  the  operation  of 
all  the  industrial  forces  and  factors  of  the  nation 
up  to  1850,  there  resulted  an  acquisition  of  wealth 
on  the  part  of  agriculture  in  our  country  of  more 
than  one  half  of  the  whole,  which  ratio  was  main- 
tained until  the  artificial  or  manipulating  era 
began. 

It  remains  to  trace  the  origin,  and  record  the 
specific  effects,  of  those  special  agencies  that 
gave  such  an  overwhelming  advantage  to  one 
cardinal  industrial  section  of  the  nation  over  the 
other.  liad  the  great  nations  of  continental 
Europe  followed  the  example  of  Great  Britain 
and  admitted  with  the  same  freedom  our  over- 
weighted surplus  of  agricultural  products,  it  is 
true  it  would  have  fallen  with  diminished  force 
upon  the  whole;  since  its  effects,  instead  of  being 
centred  mainly  upon  one  nation,  would  have 
been  equally  distributed  among  all. 

It  is  also  true  that  this  would  have  lessened  the 
evil  effects  upon  our  own  agriculture  by  greatly 
extending  the  sphere  of  demand.  It  is  never- 
theless certain,  also,  that  it  would  in  a  more  or  less 


212  Rural  versus  Urban 

marked  degree  have  unsettled — as  it  did  in  Great 
Britain — the  well  balanced  internal  relations  of 
industry  existing  in  them  all.  In  considering 
the  development  of  a  body  of  industrial  energies 
in  a  nation,  through  a  free  and  full  play  of  natural 
causes,  concurrent  with  the  influence  of  just  laws 
wisely  directed,  we  have  seen  that  no  internal 
inharmony  can  arise  through  an  undue  excess 
of  any  of  its  constituent  factors  that,  in  their 
collective  form,   constitute  an  organic  whole. 

Similarly,  there  could  arise  no  external  dis- 
order, for  the  same  reason,  between  nations  in 
their  commercial  relations  with  one  another.  This 
must  logically  follow,  for  under  these  conditions, 
all  trade  transactions  being  in  their  essence  a 
reciprocal  exchange  of  products,  on  the  basis  of 
greatest  mutual  benefits,  a  normal  supply  must 
ever  be  fixed  and  determined  by  a  normal  demand. 
Influenced  by  the  necessities  springing  from  the 
extraordinary  expansion  of  agriculture  we  have 
noted  in  the  Trans- Mississippi  region  during  the 
decades  from  1870  to  1900,  there  arose  in  the  urban 
and  non-agricultural  classes  a  correlative  necessity 
to  supply  appropriate  commodities,  to  meet  the 
sudden  increased  wants  of  agriculture  consequent 
upon  the  rapid  increase  of  that  industry.  From 
a  mutual  exchange  of  products  under  the  rigid 


Tariffs  213 

limitations  fixed  by  the  principle  we  have  pointed 
out  governing  just  and  equable  trade  transactions, 
there  would  have  developed  in  the  urban  or  non- 
agricultural  element  of  the  nation  an  increased 
supply  of  their  products  in  equal  ratio  with  that 
of  agriculture  to  meet  home  demands.  But  we 
have  seen  that,  from  the  combined  influences  of 
many  special  favoring  advantages  in  the  Trans- 
Mississippi  region,  those  lands  developed  with 
such  rapidity  that  their  products  were  soon  greatly 
in  excess  of  those  which  hitherto  prevailed  imder 
less  favorable  conditions  of  expansion,  so  that 
they  became  far  in  excess  of  the  nation's  internal 
capacity  to  consume. 

We  find,  therefore,  that  during  this  period  the 
agriculturists  of  our  country  were  soon  forced  to 
seek,  in  foreign  countries,  a  market  for  a  very  large 
proportion  of  their  entire  products.  You  will 
perceive  that,  even  under  the  principle  of  coequal 
exchange  that  we  have  indicated,  the  urban  or 
non-agricultural  element  of  the  nation  would 
have  enjoyed  an  increased  and  prosperous  growth 
along  with  that  of  the  agriculture  of  the  country, 
since  this  excessive  growth  of  the  latter  would  have 
produced  a  corresponding  increase  in  its  demand 
for  the  products  of  the  former.  Under  the  con- 
ditions assumed,  there  could  result  no  injury  to 


214  Rural  versus  Urban 

the  agriculturist  from  the  low  prices  of  his  products 
caused  by  this  accelerated  production,  in  so  far 
as  the  exchange  in  home  markets  was  concerned, 
even  though  such  exchange  was  not  sufficient 
to  satisfy  his  full  wants;  for  the  low  price  of  his 
own  products  would  be  fully  reflected  in  an  equally 
reduced  price  for  the  urban  or  non-agricultural 
commodities  at  which  they  would  thus  be  enabled 
to  offer  them  in  return.  Being,  in  fact,  on  a  mut- 
ual basis  of  production  and  exchange,  it  would 
be  inevitable  that  both  must  rise  or  fall  in  a  cor- 
relative ratio. 

In  so  far  as  concerns  the  exchange  of  his  surplus 
with  other  nations,  the  same  would  hold  true;  for, 
to  the  extent  of  a  price  less  than  the  similar  prod- 
ucts of  these  nations,  our  own  agriculturist  would 
have  been  benefited  by  a  like  lessened  cost  of 
the  products  which  they  would  have  been  able 
to  exchange  in  return.  Thus  at  home  and  abroad 
the  agriculturist  of  our  own  country,  realizing  in 
a  great  measure  countervailing  compensations  for 
the  reduced  price  of  his  own  product,  would  have 
been  largely  relieved  from  the  injurious  influences 
arising  from  his  own  plethoric  production.  The 
serious  effects  of  the  sudden  and  drastic  com- 
petition that  the  farmers  of  the  Eastern  portion 
of  our  country  had  to  encounter  from  the  West, 


Tariffs  215 

with  its  resultant  decline  in  the  value  of  their 
fixed  investments,  would  remain  the  one  con- 
spicuous and  permanent  injury  inflicted  upon 
the  nation's  industries  by  the  rapid  development 
of  the  rich  Trans-Mississippi  region,  during  the 
thirty-year  period  we  have  been  considering. 

Yet,  even  the  farmers  of  the  East,  under  the 
conditions  we  have  assumed,  would  have  been 
in  some  measure  recouped  for  the  decline  they 
sustained  in  the  value  of  their  lands,  by  the  re- 
duced cost  at  which  they  would  have  been  able  to 
purchase  their  supplies,  as  a  direct  result  of  the 
lower  price  which  the  lessened  value  of  their  own 
products  enabled  the  urban  element  to  produce 
those  peculiar  to  their  own  special  industries. 

In  reflecting  upon  the  ethics  of  trade,  it  must 
be  admitted,  under  the  circiimstances  presumed, 
that  to  the  extent  of  our  own  agricultural  exports, 
we  would  have  been  benefited  by  creating,  in 
some  degree,  an  injurious  disturbance  in  the 
established  relation  that  agriculture  bore  to  the 
other  industries,  in  the  nations  that  admitted  our 
own  agricultural  supplies  at  a  reduced  price  from 
their  own.  As  it  is  ever  in  the  power  of  these 
nations  to  minimize  these  injuries  or  prevent  them 
altogether,  there  therefore  cannot  rest  upon  others 
a  moral  obligation  to  seriously  regard  the  con- 


2i6  Rural  versus  Urban 

sequences  that  may  follow  their  own  voluntary 
acts. 

We  are  aware  that  a  risk  is  incurred  of  a  trespass 
on  yotu"  time  and  patience  by  what  may  seem  a 
needless  iteration;  but  we  are  moved  to  give,  in 
a  more  specific  and  compact  form,  the  scattered 
evidences  heretofore  presented  of  the  fact  that 
there  has  long  existed,  and  now  exists,  such  a 
remarkable  disparity  in  the  wealth  of  the  whole 
nation,  held  respectively  by  the  rural  and  urban 
elements  of  it,  as  cannot  be  accounted  for  by  any 
principle  of  just  or  natural  distribution. 

We  here  enter  into  the  sinister  presence  of  what, 
in  the  easy  perversion  of  a  sound  economic  prin- 
ciple, can  become  the  most  formidable  instrument 
ever  wielded  by  ciuining  and  avarice  not  only  to 
arrest  the  legitimate  onflow  of  the  laws  of  nature 
and  trade,  but  to  divert  them  from  their  proper 
courses  in  order  to  promote  the  cause  of  special  in- 
terests and  to  further  the  selfish  aggrandizement  of 
class.  We,  of  course,  refer  to  high-protective  and 
prohibitive  tariff  laws. 

In  the  ideal  industrial  state  of  mankind,  in 
which  all  the  forces  of  production  and  exchange 
are  directed  and  controlled  solely  by  natural 
conditions  and  just  laws,  no  general  protective 
meastues  can  be  made  to  effectively  serve  the 


Tariffs  217 

cause  of  special  interests  or  class,  as  in  the  har- 
mony of  their  action  equal  results  only  will  follow. 
In  fact,  where  natural  laws  and  conditions  are 
permitted  to  prevail,  no  protective  measures  can 
ever  become  a  necessity  to  the  material  develop- 
ment of  a  nation.  In  the  wide  extent  and  com- 
plex forms,  however,  that  modem  industrial 
affairs  and  methods  assume,  there  may  suddenly 
arise  new  and  unforeseen  circumstances  and  con- 
ditions, of  a  tentative  nature,  against  whose  dis- 
turbing and  injurious  effects  protective  measures 
may  be  wisely  and  efficiently  interposed  by  na- 
tions, to  conserve  the  order  and  maintain  the 
integrity  of  their  established  industrial,  com- 
mercial, and  other  institutions. 

The  true  protective  principle  lies,  not  in  a  crea- 
tive, but  in  a  conserving,  quality;  hence  in  the 
warfare  of  trade  it  cannot,  so  to  speak,  serve  as 
a  leader,  but  solely  as  an  arbiter  between  its  con- 
tending forces.  Its  real  function,  therefore,  in  the 
realm  of  trade  and  industry  consists,  not  in  the 
creation  of  an  increased  prosperity  in  any  part, 
which  would  not  be  in  harmony  with  the  just  order 
of  the  whole,  but  in  preserving  and  perpetuating 
what  is  in  strict  accord  and  consonant  with  a  wise 
economy  of  all.  Revulsions  would  thus  never  gene- 
rate through  economic  causes,  and  drastic  readjust- 


2i8  Rural  versus  Urban 

ments  in  the  industrial  world  would  never  become 
a  necessity  of  nature,  as  must  happen  in  the  case 
of  all  organic  bodies  wherein  an  internal  derange- 
ment in  the  true  order  of  their  members  has  been 
suffered  to  develop.  It  is  in  our  own  country  that 
the  evil  effects  are  most  signally  manifest,  and  the 
malign  influence  most  widely  felt,  of  an  abuse  of  a 
protective  principle  which,  if  wisely  applied  and 
held  within  judicious  limitations,  may  serve  to 
promote  the  several,  as  well  as  the  general,  inter- 
ests and  welfare  of  a  nation. 

It  is  in  the  immediate,  discriminating,  and 
oppressive  application  of  this  principle  that  we 
discover  the  true  agency  and  cause  which  created 
and  maintained  a  status  in  our  economic  and  in- 
dustrial system  so  anomalous  that,  while  the  value 
of  the  products  in  one  of  the  most  important  sec- 
tions of  our  national  productive  industry  suffered 
a  marked  and  steady  decrease,  those  of  another 
class  were  effectually  preserved  against  influences 
tending  to  cause  a  like  decline.  This  is  all  the 
more  noteworthy,  since  it  was  upon  the  great 
industry  suffering  this  decline  in  value  of  its 
products  that  the  other  most  largely  depended 
for  its  existence  and  support.  This  duality  of  in- 
terests, thus  created  in  the  two  cardinal  industries 
of  the  nation,  becomes  the  more  glaring  when  we 


Tariffs  219 

consider  that,  while  certain  special  laws  caused 
inevitably  a  lessened  value  of  the  products  of  one 
industry,  to  the  distinct  and  direct  advantage  of 
another  group  of  industries,  other  laws  at  the  same 
time,  through  their  partial  and  favoring  effects, 
maintained  for  this  favored  class,  at  an  abnormal 
maximum,  the  price  of  their  products,  by  unjustly 
limiting  the  other  in  their  proper  and  legitimate 
spheres  of  mutual  exchange.  While  the  one  class 
— the  urban  or  non-agricultural — thus  favored, 
reaped  the  harvest  of  a  double  advantage,  the 
other  was  conversely  subjected  to  a  double 
depletion  in  the  fruits  of  its  production. 

It  is  needless  to  seek  further  for  an  ade- 
quate cause  or  causes  to  account  for  the  wide 
disproportion  in  the  wealth  held  by  each  class 
respectively  in  the  total  of  the  nation.  Although, 
as  has  been  shown,  the  strictly  agricultural  element 
of  our  country  constituted  over  one  half  of  its 
population,  and  was  also  the  direct  and  indirect 
cause  of  three  fourths  of  the  nation's  industrial 
activities,  yet  the  wealth  of  this  class  (figuring  in 
such  a  superior  manner  in  the  affairs  of  the  nation) 
was  but  a  mere  fraction,  at  the  beginning  of  this 
century,  of  that  amassed  by  the  much  smaller 
urban  classes  of  the  country.  As  it  is  impossible 
to  impute  this  wide  divergence  to  a  like  difference 


220  Rural  versus  Urban 

in  the  moral  qualities  and  industrial  and  intel- 
lectual capacities  possessed  by  the  urban  over  the 
rural  class,  we  are  forced  to  seek  a  solution  of  a 
situation  so  singular  in  an  unequal  advantage  that 
the  one  class  enjoyed  over  the  other  under  the 
laws,  and  which  was  acquired  through  the  ascen- 
dant political  power  that  inheres  in  the  very 
nature  of  an  urban  people. 

To  state  the  matter  succinctly,  this  advantage 
was  such  that  it  enabled  the  urban  or  non-agri- 
cultural element  of  the  nation,  at  one  and  the  same 
time,  to  create  a  minimum  price  for  the  agricultural 
supplies  they  were  under  the  necessity  of  purchas- 
ing, and  also  to  fix  a  maximum  price  for  their  own 
products,  which  they  in  turn  sold  to  the  agricultur- 
ist and  to  other  classes  of  producers.  We  are  fully 
aware  that  the  body  of  facts  here  presented 
discovers  an  anomaly  so  singular  as  to  specially 
call  for  a  solution,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
laws,  so  evidently  discriminating  in  their  nature, 
were  enacted  in  a  nation  where  the  agricultural 
electorate  was  the  most  numerous  one,  and  was 
the  direct  sufferer  by  them. 

The  inquiry  is  therefore  a  most  pertinent  one: 
Why  did  not  the  agriculturists  guard  their  own 
interests  against  the  influence  of  laws  so  manifestly 
to  their  injury,  seeing  that  their  political  power 


Tariffs  221 

might  have  been  easily  the  transcendent  one  in  the 
nation?  As  a  partial  answer  to  an  inquiry  so 
material,  we  can  only  again  point  out  the  greater 
political  harmony  and  vitality  possessed  by  the 
urban  over  the  rural  electorate  of  our  country, 
in  virtue  of  the  difference  in  the  cohering  and 
organizing  power  that  inheres  in  the  two  classes. 

There  is,  however,  a  more  potent  reason  to  be 
foiind  in  the  fact,  that  these  discriminating  meas- 
ures were  formulated  during  the  distractions  and 
confusions  just  previous  to,  and  during,  our  Civil 
War,  which  fixed  the  public  mind  almost  exclusively 
upon  the  presence  of  dangers  that  were  of  the  most 
threatening  and  alarming  character.  It  was  to 
a  social  institution  in  the  South,  growing  out  of 
peculiar  and  special  agricultiu*al  necessities,  that 
our  Civil  War  can  be  largely  attributed,  and 
from  which  flowed  so  many  unforeseen  and  disas- 
trous consequences,  as  it  is  peculiarly  the  nature 
of  civil  conflicts  to  awaken  resentments,  quicken 
animosity,  and  suspend  the  judgment  of  the 
people.  Of  those  discriminating  measures  en- 
acted under  these  conditions,  the  salient  ones 
were  the  high  protective  tariff,  and  that  based  on 
the  land-grant  policy  of  the  government. 

The  former,  only,  stood  in  an  essential  relation 
to  our  unfortunate  conflict,  as  its  sole  and  original 


222  Rural  versus  Urban 

object  was  to  meet  the  transient  necessities  of  the 
war,  through  increased  resoiirces  of  revenue.  For 
the  other,  some  palliation  may  be  found  for  the 
serious  disturbance  that  it  subsequently  wrought 
in  the  business  affairs  of  the  whole  country,  and  in 
other  nations  as  well,  in  the  fact  that  at  that  time 
the  bounteous  resources  contained  in  the  soil  of 
the  Trans-Mississippi  territory  were  generally  but 
little  realized,  not  even  by  those  who  afterwards 
gained  such  extraordinary  advantages  from  it. 
As  evidence  of  this  fact,  it  will  be  recalled  that  so 
little  was  the  vast  latent  wealth  of  this  region 
suspected,  that  until  comparatively  recent  years 
what  is  now  the  most  fruitful  region  was  recorded 
as  the  Great  American  Desert  in  the  maps  and 
charts  of  our  coimtry.  It  must  in  fairness  be 
recognized  that  the  full  effects  which  followed 
were  not  anticipated,  or  clearly  discerned,  either 
by  those  who  were  to  be  so  greatly  benefited  by 
this  law  or  by  those  who  were  to  so  seriously  suffer 
from  it.  It  was,  however,  this  potential  resource 
which  alone  made  possible,  and  gave  full  force  and 
effect  to,  that  twin  enactment,  the  high  protective 
tariff  laws. 

It  must  be  obvious  to  you  that,  had  the  moder- 
ate ratio  of  agricultural  expansion  continued  that 
hitherto  imiformly  marked  the  growth  of  that 


Tariffs  223 

industry  prior  to  i860,  the  urban  classes  would 
have  realized  only  in  an  imperfect  manner  the  great 
advantages  the  law  secured  them,  since  they 
would  not  have  enjoyed  the  advantage  of  the  low 
cost  in  their  own  production,  which  they  derived 
from  the  lessened  value  of  agricultural  products 
growing  out  of  the  excess  of  that  affluent  region ;  as 
there  is  no  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  price  of 
these  products  would  not  have  remained  at  the 
same  level  that  prevailed  in  the  ante- war  period. 
To  secure  these  advantages  for  the  non-agricul- 
tural classes  of  Great  Britain  was  the  ruHng  motive 
that  led  to  the  abolition  of  her  corn-laws. 

In  further  seeking  a  solution  of  what  seems  to 
involve  an  anomaly,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  over  one  half  of  the  rural  population  of  our 
nation  had,  for  a  time,  no  effective  representation 
in  our  national  legislature,  as  the  Civil  War 
eliminated  that  section  where  agriculture  was, 
more  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  nation,  the  one 
sole  pursuit  of  the  people.  How  exclusively  was 
agriculture  the  pursuit  of  the  South  is  evidenced 
by  the  fact,  that  it  was  frequently  claimed  by  the 
North,  previous  to  the  war,  that  there  existed  few 
industries  of  an  urban  character  in  that  region, 
and  this,  with  the  deficiency  in  the  usual  propor- 
tion of  urban  population,  was  held  as  proof  that  it 


224  Rural  versus  Urban 

was  wanting  in  industrial  skill  and  energy  and  the 
spirit  of  true  progress.  How  unjust  were  these 
oft-repeated  charges  is  shown  by  the  enormous 
value  of  their  products,  constituting,  at  that  time, 
four  fifths  of  the  exports  of  the  nation,  which 
alone  maintained  the  needful  balance  of  trade — 
and  which  also  gave  life  to,  and  maintained 
the  existence  of,  several,  and  especially  one,  of  its 
most  important  urban  industries. 

Add  to  this,  the  preoccupation  of  the  rural 
mind  of  the  North  by  the  stirring  and  embittering 
events  and  engrossing  questions  that  led  up  to 
that  war,  it  is  easy  to  discover  how  in  our  national 
legislation  there  might  be  enacted  measures,  the 
very  spirit  of  which  unduly  favored  the  smaller, 
and  was  inimical  to  the  true  interests  of  that 
larger  class  whose  superior  numbers,  imder  different 
circumstances,  woiild  have  properly  given  them 
an  ascendant  political  influence  in  a  government 
where  representative  principles  prevailed.  It  was 
thus  that  the  iirban  power  of  the  country  became 
the  ruling  one,  directing  and  controlling  at  will 
the  fiscal  and  other  policies  of  the  nation, — a 
sovereign  power  that  they  have  continued  to 
maintain  with  steadily  augmenting  strength,  even 
to  this  day. 

Here  must  be  noted  the  important  fact  that, 


Tariffs  225 

prior  to  ovir  unfortunate  civil  conflict,  the  agrarian 
element,  under  the  leadership  of  a  consolidated 
and  pure  ruralism  of  the  South,  was  recognized  as 
a  political  entity  in  our  national  legislative  body, 
securing  an  equable  recognition  of  its  rights  in 
the  general  economic  affairs  of  the  nation,  and 
restraining  aggressive  urban  tendencies. 

May  we  not  find  a  deep  significance  in  what 
seems  more  than  a  fortuitous  conjimction  in  the 
fact,  that  the  agitation  of  the  urban  element  of 
Great  Britain  against  the  rural  began  at  a  time 
almost  coincident  with  that  in  our  own  country, 
the  one  happily  ending  peacefully  in  the  abolition 
of  the  corn-laws  and  in  the  adoption  of  free  trade, 
the  other,  unfortunately,  in  a  civil  conflict  and  a 
high  protective  tariff  system?  What  may  seem 
on  first  reflection  a  paradox  in  trade,  is  that 
under  the  influence  of  fiscal  policies  so  widely 
different  in  the  two  nations,  the  results  that 
followed  were  direct  and  identical;  namely,  the 
rapid  and  marked  development  of  the  urban 
power  and  interest  over  the  rural  in  each  nation, 
ending,  in  both,  by  the  complete  dominance  of  the 
one  over  the  other.  What  constitutes  a  further 
coincidence  is,  that  both  nations  seem  now  to  be 
entering  at  the  same  time  upon  renewed  intestine 
political  contests,  the  very  principle  and  purpose 

IS 


226  Rural  versus  Urban 

of  which  are  to  again  restore,  in  each  country,  the 
just  equilibrium  and  harmony  of  the  rural  and 
urban  rights  that  had  hitherto  long  existed,  and 
which  were  distiurbed  in  both  nations,  although 
through  widely  different  fiscal  policies. 

That  like  results  should  follow  from  causes  so 
different  in  character,  can  be  no  siuprise  to  one  fa- 
miliar with  the  intricacies  of  trade  and  commerce, 
or  with  the  examples  supplied  in  the  material  world 
by  the  inscrutable  operations  of  natural  laws. 
That  results  so  similar  from  causes  imlike  in  two 
nations  may  be  naturally  produced,  need  awaken 
no  wonder  when  we  consider  that  an  equal  dissimi- 
larity existed  in  the  inherent  industrial  and  trade 
necessities  of  Great  Britain  and  our  own  nation. 
Those  of  our  nation  grew  out  of  the  fact  that  the 
agricultural  must  ever  be  the  superior  industry; 
while,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  it  must  be  the 
smaller  industry  in  Great  Britain. 

The  status  of  the  industrial  and  economic  affairs 
that  existed  in  the  United  States  before  the  Civil 
War  was,  in  very  truth,  such  as  is  found  in  all 
nations  that  have  not  been  swept  from  the 
moorings  of  a  safe  conservatism  by  an  aggressive 
commerciaHsm,  whose  impatient  spirit  ever  presses 
them  on  to  an  imprudent  advance  and  progress.  It 
is  history's  invariable  record  that  this  commercial 


Tariffs  227 

spirit,  having  its  root  in  the  cities,  draws  its  suste- 
nance largely  from  the  body  of  the  nation — 
absorbing  first  the  fruits  of  agriculture.  This 
record  shows  that  concentrated  wealth,  so  exor- 
bitant and  tainted  by  injustice,  ends  in  radi- 
ating its  evil  influence  throughout  the  national 
fibre,  debasing  the  morals,  corrupting  the  mind, 
and  emasculating  even  the  military  strength 
of  the  nation,  so  that  it  no  longer  possesses 
that  last  resource  to  repel  invasions  or  suppress 
sedition,  which  have  their  inspiration  in  a  like 
motive  or  are  perhaps  animated  by  a  spirit  of 
revenge.  This  is  but  crystallizing,  in  a  terse 
form,  the  chief  causes  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  Rome, 
whose  fatal  vices  were  an  inordinate  avarice  and 
a  lust  of  power  and  glory,  and  whose  example  may 
well  be  a   lesson  to   nations. 

It  may  be  here  noted  that  there  first  arises  in 
a  nation's  agriculture  an  aristocracy  of  wealth,  to 
be  followed,  only  too  often  and  surely,  by  a  far 
more  dangerous  plutocracy,  centred  in  the  cities, 
springing  from  an  insatiate  spirit  of  commercialism. 

Anticipating  somewhat  the  observations  we 
desire  to  make  touching  the  future  of  China,  it 
would  seem  that  this  great  cotmtry  stands  in  no 
serious  danger  from  an  aggressive  urbanism,  since, 


228  Rural  versus  Urban 

under  a  constitutional  regime  (that  inevitably 
awaits  this  people),  the  agricultural  representation 
will  always  be  so  vastly  the  transcendent  one  as 
to  insure  its  perpetual  safety  against  legislative 
encroachments.  Nor  is  there  visible  in  her  vast 
agrarian  body  any  part  which,  by  governmental 
favoritism  through  an  unwise  diversion  of  public 
utilities,  can  be  fostered  to  the  detriment  or  serious 
disturbance  of  it,  with  a  corresponding  advantage 
to  the  nation's  non-agricultural  industries,  which 
favoritism  constitutes  the  sole  economic  agency 
whereby  the  laws  of  a  nation  can  cause  the  urban 
part  of  it  to  attain  an  overwhelming  supremacy. 
In  our  own  country,  what  a  strange  political 
paradox  is  presented!  We  see  that  with  a  more 
numerous  electorate  at  its  command,  the  agrarian 
portion  is  yet  without  recognition  as  a  distinct 
representative  body  in  the  legislative  chambers  of 
the  nation;  while  an  urban  electorate,  inferior  in 
niunbers,  but  with  unity  of  ptupose  and  harmony 
of  interest  and  action,  dominates  the  various 
policies  of  oiu:  government.  Such  is  not  the 
case  in  those  coimtries  that  have  judiciously 
preserved  a  balance  of  these  two  great  industrial 
and  productive  bodies  of  the  nation  in  that  just 
relation  with  the  respective  importance  and  in- 
fluence   they   sustain    to    their    whole   economic 


Tariffs  229 

afEairs,  and  which  has  produced  such  prosperity 
as  to  become  not  only  an  object  of  envy,  but  even 
of  fear,  to  other  nations  who  unwisely  permitted 
this  indispensable  harmony  to  be  seriously  dis- 
turbed, and  in  cases  to  be  wholly  destroyed. 

The  present  unrest  of  the  agricultural  middle 
West  is  not  without  significance,  as  it  may  be  a 
portent  of  a  coming  restoration  of  that  legislative 
power  once  exercised  in  national  affairs — long 
supplanted  or  suspended — the  due  right  of  that 
great  body  of  the  nation. 

Although  possessed  of  little  practical,  it  may  not 
be  wholly  devoid  of  theoretic,  value  to  again  con- 
sider what  would  have  been  the  condition  of  our 
agriculture  and  other  industries,  had  not  the  Civil 
War  intervened,  indirectly  causing  that  interrup- 
tion in  the  harmonious  and  well  co-ordinated 
advance  of  all  productive  interests  that  so  long 
existed  previous  to  it. 

May  we  not  with  some  reason  claim  that,  from 
a  speculative  retrospect  of  a  completed  cycle  of 
human  experience,  there  may  be  drawn  many  a 
valuable  lesson,  such  as  would  serve  as  a  useful 
guide  and  a  rule  of  conduct  in  future  actualities 
of  life?  It  is  most  probable  that,  under  the 
premises  assumed,  there  would  have  been  per- 
mitted no  sudden  increase  of  agricultural  products, 


230  Rural  versus  Urban 

such  as  would  have  materially  lessened  their  value ; 
for  the  Trans-Mississippi  domain,  with  its  richly 
laden  and  ready  resources,  would  have  been  so 
disposed  of,  and  at  such  value,  that  the  capital 
invested  by  the  purchaser  would  not  have  given 
him  such  an  advantage  as  to  enable  him  to  pro- 
duce at  a  much  less  cost  than  that  of  the  older 
communities,  with  their  greater  accimiulated  fixed 
investments.  This  would  certainly  have  followed ; 
since  (as  it  is  wont  in  all  financial  affairs),  being  the 
dominant  political  power,  they  would  have  ar- 
rested the  adoption  of  any  measiires  that  would 
create  an  unnatiu*al  and  unjust  competition,  such 
as  would  seriously  affect  their  own  vested  rights 
and  interests.  At  the  same  time,  the  force  of  a 
wholesome  public  opinion  and  sentiment,  ex- 
pressed in  proper  legislation,  would  have  insured 
such  an  increase  in  the  area  of  tilled  lands  as  would 
have  been  an  effective  check  to  an  oppressive 
rise  in  prices  growing  out  of  a  natural  increase  of 
population,  and  thus  safeguard  the  general  in- 
terest against  an  undue  advantage  that  the  older 
agricultiiral  communities  might  derive  from  such 
an  increased  demand. 

Left,  therefore,  to  an  untrammelled  distribution, 
the  rewards  of  all  would  have  been  determined  by 
the  free  operation  of  natural  laws  only,  establish- 


Tariffs  231 

ing  such  harmony  and  accord  among  them  as 
would  have  placed  the  whole  beyond  the  danger  of 
selfish  assaults  of  any  special  aggrandizing  class 
or  interest.  There  is  little  reason  to  doubt  that 
this  great  industry  (the  prime  origin  and  mainstay 
of  the  nation's  wealth)  would  have  still  held  a  rank 
and  influence  in  its  legislative  affairs  commen- 
surate with  the  important  part  it  plays  in  the 
general  economy  of  its  life.  The  land  west  of  the 
Mississippi  River,  so  rich  in  latent  resources  and 
so  readily  available,  would  have  been  subject  only 
to  that  rate  of  reclamation  consistent  with  the 
well-balanced  industrial  relations  of  the  whole 
country;  and  instead  of  so  great  an  asset  of  the 
nation  becoming  utilized  indirectly  almost  wholly 
to  the  sole  and  special  advantage  of  one  class,  it 
would  have  been  equally  distributed  to  the  com- 
mon benefit  of  all.  There  would,  therefore,  have 
been  no  overweight  of  excess  in  products,  with  a 
minimum  of  prices,  to  fatally  depress  the  older 
sections  of  agriculture — a  pressiue  which  is  yet 
sensibly  felt  by  them. 

A  uniform  and  natiu^al  division  of  labor's  fruit- 
ful increase  would  have  spread  throughout  the 
whole  area  of  agriculture,  bringing  such  abundance 
of  free  resources  to  this  industry  as  would  have 
resulted  in  its  development  and  embellishment, 


232  Rural  versus  Urban 

equalled  only  by  that  so  agreeably  displayed  in 
France  and  other  countries  where  its  rights  have 
been  conserved  by  judicious  protective  laws. 
Being  confined  to  a  smaller  area,  skill  and  thorough- 
ness would  reign  where  now  only  haste,  super- 
ficiality, and  insufficiency  prevail;  and  not  only 
would  the  public  domain,  with  its  nascent  riches  of 
the  soil,  be  availed  of  to  that  fulness  consistent  with 
a  prudent  hoarding  of  them,  but  the  widespread  and 
diversified  natural  means  of  intercommunication 
would  have  everywhere  been  thoroughly  reduced 
to  the  services  of  man. 

Curiously  enough — so  closely  are  the  affairs  of 
different  nations  linked  together  in  these  modem 
times — the  effects  of  Great  Britain's  corn-laws, 
thus  reduced  to  an  almost  harmless  minimum, 
would  not  have  caused  those  fierce  contentions 
which  now  reign  in  that  nation,  as  there  would 
not  have  been  poured  upon  her  fated  agriculture 
that  excessive  flood  from  our  own  country,  not 
only  blighting  the  prices,  but  extinguishing  the 
hopes  of  the  British  husbandmen.  Nor  would 
there  have  resulted,  as  a  direct  consequence  of 
this  fatal  depression  in  that  capital  industry, 
those  dislocations  of  trade  and  those  discords 
now  more  than  ever  manifest  in  every  sphere  of 
her  political  and  civil  life. 


Tariffs  233 

To  one  who  is  given  to  abstract  reflections 
upon  these  subjects,  it  must  seem  improbable  that 
nature  will  further  permit  so  flagrant  a  violation  of 
her  first  laws,  conformity  and  harmony. 

Even  now  there  can  be  traced,  in  the  recent 
advance  in  the  price  of  agricultural  products, 
distinct  evidences  that,  as  revealed  in  final 
results,  there  is  an  inviolable  conserving  power  in 
nature's  laws  which,  though  temporarily  subverted 
by  man  to  his  seeming  advantage,  brings  in  the 
end  only  injury  to  him.  It  is  to  the  operation 
of  her  immutable  laws  that  we  can  attribute, 
as  an  ultimate  result,  the  advance  in  late  years  of 
values  in  the  soil's  products,  and  by  which  she 
may  wrest  from  the  legislator  the  power  to  force 
an  abnormal  price  minimum  to  the  direct  advan- 
tage of  one,  and  to  as  direct  a  detriment  to  another, 
industrial  class.  Through  an  awakened  public  con- 
science and  emancipated  judgment,  she  seems  ere 
long  destined  also,  in  a  like  manner,  to  divest  him 
of  the  power  to  further  violate  her  laws  by 
forcing  an  artificial  maximum  price,  to  similarly 
benefit  one  and  injure  another  class.  In  other 
words,  in  the  totality  of  her  operations,  it  is  the 
purpose  of  nature  to  preserve  their  harmony  by 
abrogating  an  abnormal  economic  condition  created 
by  the  laws  of  man,  with  their  equally  discordant 


234  Rural  versus  Urban 

results,  and  to  redistribute,  on  just  lines,  the  re- 
wards of  labor  that  have  long  been  subjected  to 
an  unequal  division  by  unnatural  methods  and 
influences. 

History  supplies  many  examples  of  the  serious 
and  often  fatal  disturbances  that  arise  in  the  affairs 
of  nations  by  their  attempt  to  return  from  a  highly 
artificial  state  to  one  more  in  harmony  with  that 
of  nature. 

How  often  does  man  himself,  in  his  physical 
being,  illustrate  the  difficulties  attending  a  similar 
attempt.  Will  our  nation  be  equal  to  the  great 
task  that  nature  may — nay,  is  certain  to — impose 
upon  it,  in  the  thorough  and  radical  transformations 
she  may  demand? 


XIV 

UNEQUAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  RURAL 
AND  URBAN  INTERESTS 

A  S  the  greater  facility  of  prairie  and  plain  lands 
■'*  for  rapid  development  over  those  covered 
by  forests  and  other  usual  impedimenta  to  their 
reclamation  is  the  important  factor  in  the  pheno- 
mena presented  by  the  growth  of  this  great  in- 
dustry in  our  country  during  the  last  half  of  the 
previous  century,  we  will  give,  in  a  somewhat 
detailed  form,  statistical  evidences  of  this  superior 
capacity  for  speedy  development. 

From  the  settlement  of  our  coimtry  down  to 
1850,  approximately,  in  the  advance  of  agriculture 
westward,  the  conditions,  as  we  have  noted,  that 
retarded  the  conversion  of  lands  from  a  state  of 
nature  to  the  uses  of  man  were  imiform,  and  of 
such  a  nature  as  precluded  any  materially  rapid 
increase  in  the  ratio  of  steady  growth  and  develop- 
ment that  had  continually  prevailed  hitherto. 

We  accordingly  find  that,  up  to  the  year  1850, 
235 


236  Rural  versus  Urban 

the  total  area  of  lands  that  had  been  put  tinder 
cultivation  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  was  one 
hundred  and  twelve  millions  of  acres,  the  progress 
of  this  industry  having  as  yet  made  little  advance 
beyond  the  limits  of  that  river.  Nor  had  there, 
as  yet,  been  any  marked  development  of  the 
prairie  lands  of  Illinois,  as  that  State  had  then 
only  five  millions  of  acres  of  cultivated  lands,  the 
largest  part  of  which  was  in  the  river  valleys  and 
along  her  watercourses.  It  was  at,  or  near,  this 
time  that  there  set  in  that  surprising  development 
of  the  prairie  lands  of  that  State,  which  afterwards, 
in  the  more  extensive  plains  and  prairies  west  of 
the  Mississippi  River,  was  destined  to  play  such  an 
important,  and  in  many  ways  serious,  part  in  the 
history  of  husbandry  in  our  country. 

At  this  time,  through  an  Eastern  pressiire  and 
the  sudden  creation  of  mechanical  aids  to  agricul- 
ture, the  prairie  lands  of  Illinois  were  put  into  a 
state  of  tillage  at  a  rate  hitherto  unparalleled  in 
the  whole  history  of  the  culture  of  the  soil.  Thus 
we  find  that  Illinois,  with  a  total  area  of  fifty-six 
thousand  square  miles,  had  under  cultivation  only 
five  millions  of  acres  in  1850,  while  in  i860  this 
State  had  thirteen  millions  of  acres  under  cultiva- 
tion, or  an  increase  of  eight  millions  in  that  decade. 
It  is  significant  to  here  note  that,  in  the  neighbor- 


Their  Interests  Unequally  Developed  237 

ing  and  representative  States  of  Ohio  and  Indiana, 
with  a  combined  area  of  seventy-seven  thousand 
square  miles,  the  increased  area  of  their  tilled 
lands  was  five  million  seven  hundred  thousand 
acres,  or  only  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  increased 
acreage  shown  by  Illinois  alone.  Furthermore, 
the  great  neighboring  states  of  Indiana,  Ohio, 
Michigan,  and  Wisconsin,  with  a  combined  area 
of  two  and  one  half  times  that  of  Illinois,  increased 
their  total  area  of  cultivated  land  only  twenty- 
two  per  cent,  more  than  that  State  was  enabled 
to  expand  her  cultivated  area  during  this  time,  and 
that  too  with  less  than  one  third  of  their  combined 
population. 

Further,  we  find  that,  during  the  two  decades 
from  1850  to  1870,  Illinois  increased  her  cultivated 
lands  by  fourteen  millions  of  acres,  while  the  great 
States  of  Indiana,  Ohio,  and  Michigan  enlarged 
their  combined  area  of  tilled  lands  only  twelve 
millions  of  acres,  or  two  millions  of  acres  less  than 
that  gained  by  Illinois  during  these  two  decades, 
with  less  than  one  half  the  population  and  area  of 
lands. 

We  find  that  in  1850,  the  area  of  cultivated 
lands  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  was  one 
hundred  and  twelve  millions  of  acres,  and  that 
the  total  increase  of  cultivated  lands  east  of  that 


238  Rural  versus  Urban 

river  from  1850  to  1870  was  forty  and  one  half 
millions  of  acres.  As  the  increase  of  tilled  lands 
in  Illinois  during  this  time  was  fourteen  millions 
of  acres,  it  will  be  seen  that  of  the  total  increase 
of  cultivated  lands  in  the  United  States  east  of 
the  Mississippi  River,  from  1850  to  1870,  that 
of  the  State  of  Illinois  constituted  over  one  third  of 
the  whole.  And  yet  the  area  of  that  State  is  only 
one  fifteenth  and  the  population  then  was  only 
one  twentieth  part  of  the  total  of  the  twenty-six 
states  east  of  the  Mississippi  River. 

To  realize  in  its  full  potency  this  superior  facility 
for  reclamation  from  a  state  of  nature  possessed 
by  prairie  or  plain  lands  over  those  with  the  usual 
diversification  of  timber  and  valleys,  and  other 
impedimenta,  it  is  only  necessary  to  point  out  the 
fact  that  the  lands  of  Illinois  alone  that  were  re- 
claimed in  the  two  decades  from  1850  to  1870  were 
nearly  one  half  of  the  area  of  lands  cultivated  in 
the  United  Kingdom,  and  almost  one  quarter  of 
those  under  cultivation  in  France  in  1870. 

The  causes  of  this  wide  disparity  in  the  increase 
of  cultivated  land  in  the  one  condition  contrasted 
with  that  of  the  other  are  unmistakable.  Passing 
to  a  consideration  of  this  question  as  evidenced  in 
a  wider  field,  we  find  that  in  the  group  of  States 
embracing  the  prairie  and  plain  areas  west  of  the 


Their  Interests  Unequally  Developed  239 

Mississippi  River,  there  were  under  cultivation 
twenty-six  million  five  hundred  thousand  acres 
in  i860;  and  in  1900,  one  himdred  and  ninety-four 
millions  of  acres,  making  a  total  gain  in  that 
region  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  millions  of 
acres  in  that  time.  As  the  aggregate  gain  for  the 
whole  country  in  the  cultivated  lands  from  i860 
to  1900  was  two  himdred  and  fifty  millions  of 
acres,  it  will  be  seen  that  two  thirds  of  the  whole 
is  to  be  credited  to  a  region  that  in  i860  was 
practically  unsettled  and  relatively  of  insignificant 
production. 

If  figures  so  notable  need  further  emphasis,  it 
can  be  found  in  the  fact  that  from  a  region  practi- 
cally undeveloped  there  grew  up,  in  the  forty  years 
from  i860  to  1900,  a  highly  cultivated  area  con- 
taining more  tilled  acres  than  had  been  developed 
in  the  whole  nation  prior  to  i860,  and  with  a 
greater  total  area  of  all  lands.  A  glance  at  the 
wondrous  capacity  and  productiveness  of  this 
region  may  fiu"ther  serve  to  elucidate  a  prob- 
lem that  may  become  more  than  a  passing  per- 
plexity, before  our  country  has  reached  a  final 
solution  of  it.  This  can  be  best  indicated  by 
taking  the  thirty-year  period  from  1870  to  1900, 
as  it  was  in  1870  that  all  the  factors  making  for  a 
rapid  development  which  this  region  was  capable 


240  Rural  versus  Urban 

of  finally  united  in  their  most  effective  action. 

Thus  of  Indian  com,  the  production  in  this 
region  west  of  the  Mississippi  River  advanced  from 
one  hundred  and  ninety-four  millions  of  bushels  to 
over  fourteen  hundred  millions,  or  more  than  half 
the  aggregate  product  of  this  cereal  in  the  entire 
nation  during  that  period.  Similarly  of  wheat, 
the  production  of  this  cereal  increased  from 
seventy-four  millions  of  bushels  to  three  hundred 
and  fifty  millions  of  bushels,  or  a  like  proportion 
to  the  total  production  of  the  whole  country. 
Of  oats,  there  was  an  increase  from  fifty-five 
millions  of  bushels  to  five  hundred  and  twenty 
millions.  Thus  of  these  three  staple  cereals,  an 
aggregate  production  in  this  region  of  only  seven 
percent,  of  the  entire  product  in  1870  advanced  to 
more  than  half  the  whole  within  thirty  years,  and 
was  largely  in  excess  of  the  average  total  of  the 
whole  nation  from  1850  to  i860.  As,  during  the 
latter  decade,  the  production  of  cereals  was  more 
than  sufficient  to  meet  domestic  necessities,  leaving 
a  very  large  surplus  for  exportation,  it  is  evident 
that  a  greater  portion  of  this  extraordinary  output 
in  the  Trans-Mississippi  region  can  properly  be 
regarded  as  a  redundant  excess. 

From  its  volume,  some  feeble  idea  may  be 
formed  of  the  oppressive  weight  with  which  it  bore 


Their  Interests  Unequally  Developed  241 

upon  not  only  home,  but  foreign,  markets.  This 
became  reflected,  in  an  unwelcome  manner,  to  the 
agriculturists  of  our  own  country,  in  the  inevitable 
and  serious  depression  of  prices  that  followed. 
What  the  full  effects  were  upon  agricultural  val- 
ues consequent  upon  the  lowering  of  prices  due 
to  the  plethora  of  product  in  the  region  under 
consideration,  a  few  facts  drawn  from  the  United 
States  census  will  sufficiently  reveal.  To  more 
distinctly  display  these  effects,  we  will  refer  to  the 
decade  from  1850  to  i860  as  one  that  may  be 
properly  taken  to  represent  the  progressive  growth 
of  agriculture  under  what  might  be  defined  as 
natural  conditions  and  limitations. 

As  respects  the  increase  in  agricultural  wealth 
during  this  decade,  we  find  that  the  value  of  farm 
property,  including  land  with  improvements,  im- 
plements, machinery,  live  stock,  and  so  forth,  which 
in  1850  was  about  four  billions  of  dollars,  had 
increased  to  nearly  eight  billions  in  i860,  or  a  net 
gain  of  four  billions  of  dollars  in  that  decade. 
During  the  three  decades  from  1870  to  1900,  the 
singular  fact  is  disclosed  that  the  decennial  in- 
crease was  almost  exactly  the  same  amount,  or 
rather  an  average  under  four  billions  of  dollars, 
for  each  decade  respectively.     This  is  all  the  more 

notable,  since  during  that  period  the  population 
16 


242  Rural  versus  Urban 

of  the  nation  and  the  area  of  cultivated  lands  had 
more  than  doubled. 

It  is  worthy  of  special  mention,  also,  as  an  in- 
dication of  the  shadow  cast  over  the  whole  of  our 
agricultural  economy  by  the  depression  of  values 
caused  by  the  burdensome  excess  of  products 
during  these  years,  that  the  acreage  value  of  lands 
advanced  only  ten  dollars  and  eighty  cents  during 
the  half -century  from  1850  to  1900.  This  small 
advance  is  rendered  specially  significant  by  the 
fact  that  six  dollars  and  ten  cents  of  this  advance 
occurred  during  the  decade  of  1850  to  1 860,  leaving 
forty  years  during  which  the  value  was  increased 
only  four  dollars  and  seventy  cents  per  acre. 
From  these  facts  many  valid  and  instructive  in- 
ferences are  obviously  warranted. 

Since  the  decennial  gain  in  agricultural  wealth 
from  i860  to  1900  was  equal  only  to  that  of  the  de- 
cade from  1850  to  i860,  it  logically  follows  that  the 
total  wealth  of  the  agricultural  classes  would  have 
been  quite  the  same  as,  in  fact  even  greater  than, 
it  was  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century, 
if  neither  the  rapid  extension  of  cultivated  lands  nor 
the  increase  of  their  population  had  occurred.  But 
as  there  seems  no  good  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
same  steady  rate  of  expansion  of  cultivated  lands  as 
before  i860  would  not  have  continued,  even  though 


Their  Interests  Unequally  Developed  243 

the  domain  west  of  the  Mississippi  River  as  a 
body  had  not  possessed  that  faciUty  for  rapid 
development  arising  out  of  its  special  character- 
istics, it  seems  conclusive  that  the  present  wealth 
of  the  agricultural  classes  would  have  been  much 
greater  than  it  now  actually  is. 

Moreover,  there  stands  the  conspicuous  fact 
that  the  increase  of  the  first  period  was  under 
natural  conditions  of  growth,  uninfluenced  by 
those  ordinances  of  man  not  in  harmony  with  the 
order  of  nature;  while  that  of  the  second  period 
was  under  the  forcing  or  fiat  process,  or  rather 
that  policy  of  hastening  or  even  hustling  nature's 
operations — an  economic  heresy  that  arose  about 
the  beginning  of  our  Civil  War,  and  which  has 
become  a  fixed  idea  and  has  since  steadily  gained 
in  force. 

When  we  separate  the  actual  from  the  apparent, 
the  extraordinary  spectacular  and  gross  results  of 
agriculture  from  its  real  net  gains  during  that 
period  of  its  forced  existence,  it  is  impossible 
to  believe  that  there  were  no  greater  net  gains 
attending  the  other  industries  of  the  nation  during 
this  period  of  exceptional  activity. 

It  should  be  specially  noted,  also,  that  during 
this  period  much  more  than  half  of  the  population 
of  the  nation  was  directly  engaged  in  agricultural 


244  Rural  versus  Urban 

pursuits  and  wholly  dependent  upon  them.  We 
will  therefore  pass  to  a  consideration  of  a  great 
problem,  and  note  some  of  the  direct  effects  upon 
the  non-agricultural  interests  and  industries  of 
the  nation  specially  traceable  to  the  phenomenal 
expansion  of  the  cultivated  lands  of  our  country 
during  the  last  half -century.  In  the  analysis  of 
statistical  matters  and  facts  we  now  proceed  to 
make,  we  will  regard  the  non-agricultural  elements 
of  the  nation  as  synonymous  with  the  urban; 
since  the  line  of  demarcation,  in  the  very  nature  of 
their  respective  pursuits,  methods,  customs,  and 
modes  of  life,  between  the  purely  agricultural  and 
non-agricultural  classes  of  the  nation  is  such  as  to 
give  to  the  latter  distinct  and  essentially  urban 
characteristics.  That  portion  of  the  non-agricul- 
tural elements  of  the  nation  that  does  not  reside  in 
incorporated  towns,  and  may  not  thus  possess, 
in  its  fulness,  metropolitan  traits  of  life,  is  as  to 
numbers  and  wealth  so  inconsiderable  as  not  to 
invalidate  to  a  material  degree  the  deductions 
we  may  make  on  the  basis  that  the  whole  non- 
agricultural  elements  of  the  nation  may  be  properly 
included  within  the  sphere  of  the  urban. 

We  have  given  the  decennial  growth  of  wealth 
in  the  larger  field  of  agricultiiral  industry  from 
1850  to  1900;  we  will  now  in  a  like  manner  give. 


Their  Interests  Unequally  Developed  245 

from  the  same  sources,  that  of  the  non-agricultural 
or  urban  portion  of  the  nation  for  the  same  period. 
We  find  that  during  the  decade  from  1850  to  i860, 
the  urban  portion  of  our  country  increased  in 
wealth  from  3170  millions  of  dollars  in  1850  to 
8090  millions  in  i860.  We  cannot  fail  to  note  that 
in  1850  the  wealth  of  the  two  great  classes  of  indus- 
tries— the  complete  accumulation  of  the  industrial 
energies  of  the  nation  up  to  that  time — was  re- 
spectively for  the  agricultural  classes  3987  millions 
of  dollars,  and  for  the  tirban  3170  millions,  or  nearly 
one  billion  dollars  more  for  the  former  than  for  the 
latter.  This  is  what  might  be  reasonably  pre- 
sumed from  the  co-ordinate  relation  they  sustain 
in  the  country's  economic  and  industrial  affairs, 
and  when  there  had  as  yet  existed  no  measures 
to  unfairly  enhance  one  interest  over  the  other. 

It  is  in  the  increase  of  the  decade  from  1850  to 
i860  that  we  can  first  trace  the  rudiments  of  an 
influence  which  subsequently  produced  that  ex- 
traordinary unequal  distribution  of  wealth  that  is 
revealed,  by  statistics,  as  existing  in  our  coimtry 
at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century.  In  the 
decade  from  i860  to  1870,  the  urban  wealth  in- 
creased from  8090  millions  of  dollars  to  21,060 
millions,  a  net  increase  of  thirteen  thousand 
millions  of  dollars,  in    contrast  with  about   one 


246  Rural  versus  Urban 

thousand  millions  of  dollars  increase  of  agricul- 
tural values  during  that  decade.  It  may  be 
proper  here  to  note,  that  of  the  vast  expenditures 
of  war  in  this  decade,  colossal  sums  went  to 
the  cities  to  meet  its  necessary  and  special 
requirements,  and  which  operated  to  directly 
promote  the  interests  and  prosperity  peculiar  to 
urban  life.  From  1870  to  1880,  the  increase  of 
urban  wealth  was  from  21,060  millions  to  30,462 
millions  of  dollars,  or  a  net  increase  of  9402 
millions  of  dollars  for  that  decade,  as  against  some 
three  thousand  millions'  increase  of  agricultural 
wealth  dining  the  same  time.  In  the  decade  from 
1880  to  1890  the  urban  increase  was  from  30,462 
millions  to  49,037  millions  of  dollars,  or  a  net 
gain  of  18,575  millions  as  against  an  agricultural 
increase  of  less  than  four  thousand  millions  of 
dollars  during  that  decade.  Finally,  from  1890  to 
1900,  the  increase  in  the  wealth  of  the  urban  ele- 
ment was  from  49,037  millions  to  68,000  millions  of 
dollars,  being  a  net  urban  or  non-agricultural  gain 
of  almost  19,000  millions  of  dollars  for  this  decade, 
as  against  an  increase  of  4500  millions  in  agricul- 
tural values  during  this  same  time. 

By  a  further  segregation  of  these  remarkable  fig- 
ures, their  significance  can  be  more  fully  and  clearly 
realized,  if  that  were  possible.     First,  we  find  that 


Their  Interests  Unequally  Developed  247 

in  a  total  increase  of  wealth  in  the  entire  nation 
from  16,169  millions  of  dollars  in  i860  to  88,527 
millions  in  1900,  a  total  net  increase  of  72,358 
millions,  the  net  increase  of  agricultural  values 
for  this  period  was  12,547  millions  of  dollars,  about 
one  sixth  of  the  whole,  while  the  increase  in  the 
urban  or  non-agricultural  wealth  during  the  same 
period  was  59,811  millions  of  dollars,  or  nearly 
five  sixths  of  the  total  increased  wealth  of  the 
nation,  or  47,264  millions  of  dollars  excess  over 
the  increase  of  the  agricultural  element  in  that 
time. 

It  must  be  further  observed  that,  of  the  final 
total  of  the  nation's  wealth  in  1900,  the  urban  or 
lesser  element  of  the  nation  succeeded  in  amass- 
ing over  three  quarters  of  it,  leaving  less  than 
one  quarter  of  the  whole  as  a  reward  for  the  la- 
bors of  the  far  more  numerous  agricultural  classes. 
The  very  important  and  significant  fact  in  this 
connection  should  be  here  pointed  out,  that  of 
the  great  multitude  of  millionaires,  and  multi- 
millionaires, that  so  suddenly  sprang  into  exist- 
ence in  our  country  during  the  past  fifty  years, 
it  would  be  difficult,  if  indeed  possible,  to  find 
even  one  who  developed  from  that  class  whose 
efforts  were  confined  to  the  tillage  of  the  soil, 
and  who  acquired  their  wealth  through  the  prac- 


248  Rural  versus  Urban 

tice  and  exercise  of  those  methods  and  processes 
of  a  nature  strictly  and  pecuHarly  agricultural. 

A  distribution  of  wealth  so  manifestly  contrary 
to  all  natural,  just,  and  harmonious  relations, 
and  so  obviously  due  to  artificial  causes,  de- 
mands a  serious  attempt  to  trace  an  adequate 
explanation.  To  those  familiar  with  the  respective 
industrial  habits  and  capacities  of  the  rural  and 
urban  classes,  it  is  insufficient  to  impute  this 
difference  to  any  superiority  of  the  urban  over 
the  rural  classes,  who  have  ever  exercised  their 
art  with  the  highest  intelHgence  and  assiduous 
industry. 

Let  us  again  address  ourselves  to  the  statistical 
data  at  command,  as  we  believe  a  candid  and 
careful  analysis  of  them  will  disclose  a  satisfactory 
solution  of  that  disparity  not  suspected  by  the 
uninterested  many,  and  the  causes  of  which  are 
too  remote  and  deeply  hidden  to  encourage  the 
analytic  labors  of  the  interested  few. 

As  we  have  given  the  development  of  agricul- 
tural operations  through  the  decades  of  1850  to 
1900,  we  will  in  a  like  manner  give  that  of  the 
industries  innate  and  peculiar  to  the  urban  state 
of  Ufe.  In  stating  the  records  of  manufacturing 
industry,  we  do  so  for  the  reason  that  it  is  one 
pecuHarly  the  product  of,  and  cognate  with,  the 


Their  Interests  Unequally  Developed  249 

urban  condition  of  man;  and  it  is  a  branch  of 
urban  industry  concerning  which  alone  there  are 
reliable  and  sufficient  statistical  data,  and  for  the 
reason  also  that  it  is  directly  and  indirectly  largely 
the  cause  of  the  marked  unequal  distribution  of 
wealth  in  our  country.  Great  as  is  the  power 
of  this  industr}'-  to  promote  an  unequal  flow  of 
wealth  into  the  urban  centres  of  the  nation,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  there  are  many  other 
gainful  pursuits  that  are  exercised  wholly  in  the 
cities  which,  with  others  only  partially  so,  together 
contribute  to  that  colossal  urban  fabric,  the  un- 
equal dimensions  of  which  a  thorough  study  of 
statistics  alone  can  reveal. 

In  stating  the  decennial  increase  in  value  of 
manufactured  products,  we  will  endeavor  to  give 
parallel  therewith  the  annual  and  decennial  aver- 
age gross  value  of  agricultural  products  also,  in  so 
far  as  statistical  data  will  permit,  in  order  that 
the  great  disparity  of  the  two  may  stand  more 
conspicuously  revealed. 

In  1850  the  value  of  manufactured  products 
was  one  thousand  millions  of  dollars,  and  in  i860 
over  1885  millions.  Again  we  find  that  in  1850 
the  manufacturing  interests  bore  to  the  agri- 
cultural, as  revealed  by  the  gross  value  of  the 
products,    the   same  relation  as    was    indicated 


250  Rural  versus  Urban 

by  the  respective  shares  in  the  total  wealth  of 
the  nation  of  these  two  sources  of  national 
wealth,  being  what  might  properly  be  antici- 
pated from  the  equal  conditions  enjoyed  by  both 
up  to  that  time.  The  gain  in  value  of  man- 
ufactured products  in  the  decade  from  1850  to 
i860  displayed,  as  was  the  case  in  the  compar- 
ative increase  of  wealth  of  the  two  in  that  decade, 
the  same  evidence  of  that  incipient  unnatural  ex- 
pansion of  the  lu-ban  over  the  agricultural  inter- 
est of  the  country,  that  was  to  ultimately  assume 
such  gigantic  proportions. 

Presumably  owing  to  the  disturbances  and 
destructions  of  the  Civil  War,  there  is  a  lacuna 
from  i860  to  1880,  in  which  the  decennial  increase 
of  agricultural  products  has  been  given  in  such 
incomplete  form  as  to  render  an  accurate  com- 
parison of  the  two  quite  impossible.  However, 
the  growth  in  value  of  manufactured  products  is 
given  in  much  detail  and  with  great  accuracy. 
We  find  that  from  i860  to  1870  the  annual  gross 
value  of  manufactured  products  increased  from 
1885  millions  of  dollars  to  4252  millions,  a  net 
gain  for  that  decade  of  2367  millions  of  dollars. 
From  1870  to  1880  there  was  an  increase  from 
4252  to  5600  millions  of  dollars  or  a  net  gain  of 
1348  millions.      From  1880  to  1890  there  was  an 


Their  Interests  Unequally  Developed  251 

increase  from  5600  millions  to  9572  millions  of 
dollars,  or  a  net  gain  during  that  time  of  3972 
millions  of  dollars;  and  from  1890  to  1900  there 
was  an  increase  in  value  of  manufactured  pro- 
ducts from  9572  millions  to  13,200  millions,  a 
net  gain  during  that  decade  of  3628  millions  of 
dollars.  This  gives  a  decennial  average  increase 
in  annual  values  of  manufactured  products  of 
2829  millions  of  dollars  from  i860  to  1900,  while 
the  decennial  increase  of  total  gross  values  of  all 
agricultural  products  did  not  exceed  one  third  of 
that  amount,  although  their  quantity  had  in- 
creased in  a  rapid  and  startling  manner  during 
that  time. 

In  1880  there  begin  again  accurate  returns  of 
agricultural  products,  from  which  we  observe 
there  was  an  average  annual  total  of  3800  millions 
of  dollars.  It  therefore  appears  that  the  decen- 
nial increased  value  of  manufactured  products 
from  1880  to  1900  was  over  half  the  average  total 
gross  annual  value  of  all  agricultural  products 
during  that  period.  As  inferentially  there  should 
be  reflected  in  the  various  forms  of  our  national 
life  evidences  of  so  extraordinary  a  difference  in  the 
accumulations  of  the  two  great  sources  of  national 
wealth,  we  will  turn  to  a  consideration  of  this 
question  in  another  aspect,  which  not  only  confirms 


252  Rural  versus  Urban 

this  unequal  distribution  of  the  nation's  products, 
but  also  suggests  in  some  specific  manner  the  true 
cause  of  it. 

It  might  rightly  be  expected  that  a  gain  of  wealth 
of  one  great  branch  of  industry  over  the  other,  so 
rapid  and  marked,  would  be  followed  by  an  equal 
increase  in  the  nimibers  of  that  class  acquiring 
such  imequal  proportion.  A  study  of  the  increase 
of  the  urban  population  in  our  coimtry,  subsequent 
to  i860,  fully  meets  this  expectation.  Following 
a  natural  coiuoe  of  development  and  growth  prior 
to  i860,  the  nation's  increased  wealth  and  popiila- 
tion  being  then  determined  only  by  the  laws  of 
thrift,  capacity,  industry,  and  merit,  and  not 
as  it  almost  wholly  was  after  i860  to  adventi- 
tious circumstances  and  factitious  causes,  there 
was  a  relative  development  of  the  urban  and 
rural  elements  of  the  nation  in  accord  with 
these  natural  conditions.  Accordingly,  it  is  ob- 
served that  the  purely  urban  population,  which 
in  1850  was  only  twelve  and  one  half  per  cent,  of 
the  total,  increased  to  over  forty -seven  per  cent,  of 
the  whole  population  in  1900. 

As  indicating  the  relative  growth  of  the  urban 
and  rural  elements  of  our  country  under  the 
normal  and  also  under  the  artificial  conditions 
that  prevailed  before  and  after  i860,  it  is  sufficient 


Their  Interests  Unequally  Developed  253 

to  note  that  prior  to  that  date,  in  the  period  from 
1820  to  i860,  the  average  urban  population  was 
nine  and  one  half  per  cent,  of  that  of  the  whole 
nation;  and  from  i860  to  1900  it  was  an  average 
of  twenty-five  and  one  half  per  cent,  of  the  whole, 
or  nearly  three  times  as  much.  Further,  from 
1880  to  1900,  a  period  coincident  with  the  most 
rapid  accumulation  of  urban  wealth  and  con- 
versely that  of  the  relative  smallest  gains  of 
agriculture,  the  average  urban  population  was 
thirty  per  cent,  of  the  total  of  the  nation.  In 
1830  the  entire  population  of  the  towns  and 
cities  was  one  million  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
three  thousand,  and  in  i860  it  was  seven  millions 
six  hundred  and  eight  thousand,  or  a  net  gain 
during  that  time  of  six  millions  three  hundred 
and  fifty-five  thousand.  As  the  total  increase 
of  population  in  those  thirty  years  was  eighteen 
millions  five  hundred  and  seventy  thousand,  it 
will  be  seen  that  about  one  third  of  the  total  in- 
crease of  population  went  to  the  towns  and  cities, 
and  this  was  during  a  period  in  which  natural 
productive  conditions  prevailed. 

In  1870  all  the  towns  and  cities  of  the  United 
States  contained  a  population  of  eleven  millions 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  In  1900  they 
contained  thirty-five  millions  eight  himdred  and 


254  Rural  versus  Urban 

forty  thousand.  This  represents  an  urban  increase 
of  twenty-four  millions  and  ninety  thousand  durir.g 
this  thirty-year  period.  As  the  total  increase  of 
population  in  the  United  States  during  this  tirhe 
was  thirty-seven  milHons  seven  hundred  and  forty- 
five  thousand,  it  will  be  observed  that  of  the  entire 
increase  nearly  two  thirds  went  to  the  towns  an-d 
cities.  In  fact,  in  one  decade,  from  1890  to  1900, 
nearly  three  quarters  of  the  total  increase  went 
into  the  non-agricultural  portion  of  the  country. 
This,  it  must  be  specially  noted,  was  a  thirty-year 
period  in  which  the  influence  of  artificial  conditions 
most  powerfully  operated  to  inordinately  enhance 
the  gains  of  the  urban  classes  on  the  one  hand,  and 
imduly  repress  those  of  the  agricultural  or  rural  on 
the  other  hand. 

There  were  in  the  United  States  in  1900  one 
hundred  and  sixty-one  towns  with  a  population 
of  twenty -five  thousand  and  upward,  with  an 
aggregate  of  twenty  millions,  or  about  twenty-six 
per  cent,  of  the  total  population ;  and  three  hundred 
and  fifty-six  towns  and  cities  above  eight  thousand 
and  under  twenty-five  thousand,  with  a  total  of 
five  millions  of  inhabitants;  and  five  hundred  and 
thirty-two  towns  and  cities  with  a  population  of 
four  thousand  and  imder  eight  thousand,  with  an 
aggregate  of  three  millions;  also  two  thousand  one 


Their  Interests  Unequally  Developed  255 

hundred  and  thirty  towns  with  a  population  over 
one  thousand  and  under  four  thousand  that  totalled 
three  millions  three  hundred  and  four  thousand 
inhabitants.  Finally,  there  were  six  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  ten  towns  under  one  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  with  a  total  population  of 
three  millions  one  htmdred  thousand.  Thus,  for 
the  whole  country,  there  were  nearly  ten  thousand 
towns  and  villages  in  1900,  with  an  aggregate  of 
thirty-four  millions  four  hundred  and  four  thou- 
sand, or  over  forty-five  per  cent,  of  the  whole 
population  of  the  nation. 

Recurring  to  our  comments  upon  the  natural 
division  of  the  total  population  of  our  country 
into  what  is  strictly  agricultural  or  rural,  and  into 
the  non-agricultural  or  iu"ban  classes,  it  will  be 
observed  that  these  figures  confirm  the  justness 
of  the  views  we  there  presented.  As  more  fully 
elucidating  this  important  question  of  division 
and  concentration  of  a  nation's  population  into 
the  prime  sections  of  the  rural  and  the  urban, 
which  we  have  heretofore  considered  in  their 
naturally  segregated  state  in  France,  we  will  again 
refer  to  the  statistics  of  that  country,  which  may 
be  taken  as  an  example  of  the  complete  develop- 
ment of  all  the  industries  comprised  within  a 
nation. 


2^6  Rural  versus  Urban 

We  find  that  in  1900,  there  were  in  France 
fifteen  towns  and  cities  with  a  population  of  over 
one  hundred  thousand,  with  an  aggregate  of  five 
millions  three  hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  and 
fifty-six  towns  and  cities  over  fifty  thousand  in- 
habitants and  under  one  hundred  thousand  with 
a  total  of  two  millions  seven  hundred  thousand 
population.  There  were  also  thirty -five  thousand 
five  hundred  towns  and  communes  with  a  popula- 
tion of  under  one  thousand  and  an  aggregate  of 
nineteen  millions  five  hundred  thousand  inhabi- 
tants. As  the  total  agricultural  population  of 
France  in  1900  was  twenty-three  millions  one  hun- 
dred thousand,  it  will  be  seen  how  almost  wholly 
that  population  lives  in  the  small  communes  and 
villages,  and  how  small  a  proportion  resides  in 
the  towns  of  larger  size.  Turning  to  our  own 
country,  we  find  that  in  the  six  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  ten  towns  and  villages  of  less  than 
one  thousand  inhabitants,  there  was  a  total  of 
three  millions  one  hundred  thousand  popula- 
tion, indicating  that  a  very  small  per  cent,  of 
our  agricultural  people  resides  in  villages  or 
towns.  It  should  be  noted  that  the  popula- 
tion in  the  cities  of  France  of  over  four  thou- 
sand inhabitants  constitutes  twenty-six  per  cent. 
of   the  total  population  of  that    nation,   while 


Their  Interests  Unequally  Developed  257 

that  of  the  cities  of  the  same  size  in  our  own 
country  comprises  thirty-seven  per  cent,  of  the 
whole. 


ti 


XV 


PROPORTIONATE  GROWTH  OF  RURAL 
AND  URBAN  LIFE 

T^HE  urban  population  of  our  country,  through 
■^  the  causes  we  have  set  forth,  was  enabled 
to  attain  wealth  of  such  dimensions  and  propor- 
tions as  to  be  in  harmony  neither  with  that 
attained  by  the  rural  element,  nor  with  what 
could  have  been  reached  by  any  just  legislative 
measures,  had  there  not  existed  the  unusual 
physical  conditions  that  marked  the  agricult- 
ural lands  of  the  Trans-Mississippi  region,  and 
which  needed  only  the  impetus  of  discriminating 
laws  to  accelerate  a  development  and  growth, 
not  only  disastrous  to  the  agriculturists  them- 
selves, but  unprecedented  in  the  history  of 
husbandry. 

We  have  seen  that,  in  the  decade  between  1850 
and  i860,  a  period  measurably  free  from  the 
influence  of  class  legislation  and  wherein  only 
natural  limitations  to  the  progress  of  reclaiming 

258 


Their  Proportionate  Growth      259 

lands  from  a  state  of  nature  existed,  there  was 
an  increase  of  twenty-four  millions  of  acres  of 
cultivated  lands  east  of  the  Mississippi  River. 
In  this  estimate,  we  have  eliminated  the  prairie 
lands  of  Illinois  and  Southern  Wisconsin  as  being 
exceptional  to  the  characteristic  growth  of  culti- 
vated lands  that  prevailed  in  our  country  anterior 
to  the  time  its  prairie  and  plain  regions  were 
reached.  Add  to  this  the  increased  acreage  of 
cultivated  lands  per  decade  due  to  a  progressive 
increase  of  total  population,  and  we  have  a 
thoroughly  accurate  criterion  of  what  the  rate  of 
expansion  would  have  been  under  the  assump- 
tion that  the  physical  impedimenta  west  of  the 
Mississippi  River  had  remained  uniform  with 
what  previously  had  existed  east  of  it. 

By  this  rate  of  progression,  it  is  evident  that  a 
far  longer  lapse  of  time  would  have  been  con- 
sumed in  reclaiming  the  total  area  of  cultivated 
lands  that  were  under  tillage  at  the  beginning  of 
this  century  than  was  actually  required.  In  the 
case  assumed,  there  would  have  existed  also  that 
natural  relation  and  adjustment  of  the  rural 
and  urban  interests  and  classes  existing  in  the 
years  prior  to  i860.  None  other  could  have 
been  possible,  since  both  these  prime  sections 
in  the  general  economy  of  the  nation,  being   so 


26o  Rural  versus  Urban 

intimately  and  innately  related,  were  recipro- 
cally dependent  upon  mutual  and  helpful  sup- 
port for  their  expansion  and  growth.  There  could, 
as  a  consequence,  arise  no  radical  relation  other 
than  that  which  uniformly  existed  in  the  history 
of  the  country  from  its  foundation  to  the  be- 
ginning of  that  period  of  abnormal  and  rapid 
expansion  of  agriculture,  rendered  primarily 
possible  only  by  the  conjunction  of  fortuitous 
circumstances  and  the  most  unequal  legislation. 

Primarily  considered,  our  country  foimd  itself 
at  the  beginning  of  this  century  in  that  anomalous 
position  where  the  urban  population,  wealth,  and 
economic  power  were  such  that  more  than  a  cen- 
tury of  further  development  would  have  been  es- 
sential to  create  under  natural  conditions  and  just 
laws;  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  agriculture  of 
the  nation,  as  a  body,  was  in  a  less  favorable 
state  than  it  would  have  been,  at  the  end  of  the 
last  century,  as  respects  its  wealth  and  share  in  the 
general  economic  affairs  of  the  nation,  had  those 
exceptional  conditions  of  its  growth  never  been 
encountered.  As  respects  the  political  power  of 
the  agricultural  contingent  of  the  people,  it  had 
become  greatly  inferior  at  the  beginning  of  this 
century  to  what  it  would  have  been  under  a  natural 
and  impartial  course  of  expansion,  and  to  what 


Their  Proportionate  Growth      261 

in  reality  it  was  before  the  beginning  of  the  Civil 
War,  which  ushered  in  that  era  of  rapid  growth 
and  power  which  ultimately  ended  in  the  complete 
political  dominance  now  exercised  by  the  urban 
element  of  the  nation. 

But  what  of  the  future,  and  what  is,  in  fact, 
the  real  problem  that  confronts  our  nation  with 
its  stern  demands  for  solution?  The  urban  ele- 
ment of  the  nation  having  in  numbers,  wealth, 
and  power  anticipated  by  more  than  one  hundred 
years  a  just  co-ordinate  development  with  agricul- 
tiire,  is  it  not  the  real  problem,  how  this  forced 
and  artificial  condition  of  the  nation's  urban 
classes  can  be  sustained,  without  its  further  serious 
detriment  to  agricultural  rights  and  to  the  true 
interest  of  the  state?  It  seems  that  it  is  indispens- 
able to  do  so,  in  the  interests  of  an  ultimate  and 
essential  harmony;  at  least  until  such  time  as 
the  internal  growth  in  numbers,  wealth,  and 
power  of  agriculture  is  restored  to  a  condition 
that  is  commensurate  with  its  importance  in  the 
affairs  of  the  nation,  and  such  as  is  necessary  to 
insure  steady  and  enduring  prosperity  to  the 
whole  body  of  industrial  interests. 

But  it  must  be  apparent  to  you  that  this  read- 
justment is  necessarily  a  work  of  time,  with  its 
slow   progress  and   processes.     It   would   appear 


262  Rural  versus  Urban 

that  in  only  three  ways  can  it  be  effected:  either 
by  a  more  rapid  and  a  larger  ratio  in  the  growth  of 
agricultural  wealth  as  a  whole  than  now  exists, 
or  by  a  reduced  future  ratio  of  gain  in  the  urban 
interests  of  the  nation,  or  through  a  third — but 
well-nigh  impossible — method,  that  of  maintainir.g 
an  economic  relation  of  urban  interests  with  other 
nations  such  as  will  redress  the  deficiency  arising 
out  of  those  of  a  domestic  nature.  The  cities 
having  thus,  by  the  aid  of  partial  laws,  anticipated 
for  more  than  a  century  their  full  inheritance  of 
the  nation's  possible  wealth  for  that  time,  their 
one  sole  effort  and  concern,  therefore,  in  future 
must  be,  how  a  volume  of  wealth  so  unequally 
distributed  can  be  maintained  imtil  the  belated 
agricultiural  interests  advance  to  that  state  of 
coequal  wealth  and  power  which  will  re-establish 
once  more  that  harmony  of  interest  which  can 
alone  guarantee  a  sound,  permanent,  and  real 
national  prosperity. 

Whatever  imcertainty  and  doubt  there  exist 
as  to  what  may  be  an  efficient  policy  or  policies 
whereby  this  equilibriimi  can  ultimately  be  re- 
stored, there  can  be  none  that  there  must  be  an 
increase  in  the  one,  or  a  decrease  in  the  other,  or 
a  concurrence  of  both;  or  else,  as  we  have  noted, 
the  vastly  overweighted  volume  of  urban  affairs 


Their  Proportionate  Growth      263 

must  be  sustained  through  industrial  influences, 
wholly  extraneous  to  those  of  a  domestic  character, 
until  such  time  as  nu^al  rights  and  acquisitions 
expand  to  a  normal  and  just  relation  with  the  ur- 
ban, upon  which  the  permanence  and  future  pros- 
perity of  both  must  depend.  The  latter  remedy 
seems  well-nigh  impracticable  in  anything  like  a 
just,  natural,  and  sufficient  measiu-e ;  since,  in  this 
age  of  national  spheres  of  influence,  with  ever 
increasing  and  keener  competition  in  the  world's 
commerce,  the  trade  if  justly  secured  will  be 
at  too  great  a  cost  to  be  other  than  a  feeble  cor- 
rective of  that  wide  disparity  in  home  inter- 
ests, the  product  of  deep-seated  and  unnatural 
influences. 

There  seems,  therefore,  only  one  resource  remain- 
ing by  which  this  flagrant  divergence  in  material 
interests  can  be  maintained,  and  that  is,  to  perpet- 
uate the  discriminating  system  that  has  existed 
for  half  a  century,  whereby  an  undue  share  of  the 
nation's  increased  wealth  will  continue  to  be  di- 
verted from  natural  channels  to  the  tuban  advant- 
age. There  seems  no  alternative  whereby,  through 
factitious  methods  and  laws,  those  of  nature  can  be 
further  frustrated.  Even  this,  in  the  end,  must  be- 
come inefficient  and  finally  inoperative;  since  all 
efforts  of  man  that  are  vicious  in  character  or  at 


264  Rural  versus  Urban 

variance  and  in  conflict  with  the  order  of  nature 
are  self-destructive. 

As  the  very  principle  of  discriminating  advan- 
tages implies  a  continuous  and  steady  absorption 
and  appropriation  of  the  substance  and  resoiu-ces 
of  one  industrial  section  by  another,  there  must  be 
a  progressive  decrease  in  the  strength  of  the  one 
comparable  with  the  excessive  growth  and  ab- 
normal accimiulation  of  the  other.  A  steady 
and  ultimate  emasciilation  must  result  to  the 
resources  of  the  one  upon  which  the  other  must 
rely  to  maintain  its  artificial  and  preponderating 
position. 

We  have  seen  that  in  forty  years'  operation  of 
the  measures  and  policies  that  caused  the  excessive 
enrichment  of  the  cities  at  the  expense  of  rural 
rights  and  interests,  the  latter  class  was  deprived 
of  a  large  share  of  its  rightfid  gain.  The  inquiry 
natiurally  suggests  itself  as  to  how  many  years 
may  yet  intervene  before  the  urban  classes  have 
absorbed  the  remaining  portion,  and  the  rural 
element  be  thus  reduced  to  a  state  of  permanent 
subordination,  in  which  the  fruits  of  their  labor, 
above  the  bare  necessities  of  their  subsistence,  will 
pass  to  the  sole  benefit  and  enjoyment  of  the 
nation's  urban  classes.  Nor  can  it  be  rightly  held 
that  this  is  an  idle  speculative  inquiry,  since  we 


Their  Proportionate  Growth      265 

find  that  it  is  the  uniform  testimony  of  history 
that  agriculture  in  all  nations,  in  time,  becomes 
subordinate  to  the  urban  element,  resulting  in- 
evitably in  the  decline  and  decay  of  the  nation. 

It  must  be  manifest  to  you  that  there  exists  in 
our  country  no  possible  future  rate  of  agricultural 
expansion  such  as  prevailed  during  the  past  half- 
century,  and  out  of  which  grew  the  inordinate 
development,  power,  wealth,  and  numbers  of  the 
urban  classes.  There  can,  therefore,  exist  in  the 
future  no  commensurate  means  of  maintaining 
this  inequality  in  the  distribution  of  the  nation's 
wealth,  that  had  its  origin  in  and  was  sustained  by 
purely  exceptional  (and  in  their  nature  transitory) 
conditions  which  can  no  longer  be  perpetuated ;  for 
it  is  evident  that  no  like  rapid  accession  to  the 
growth  of  our  agriculture  as  was  maintained  in 
the  past  half-centiuy  is  again  possible.  With- 
out the  vital  influence  of  such  a  fertilizing  stream, 
the  exaggerated  and  inordinate  state  which  it 
created  and  sustained  can  no  longer  exist. 

Even  though  another  period  of  excessive  agricul- 
tural expansion  could  recur,  so  long  as  those 
measures  remained  in  force  that  enabled  the  urban 
classes  to  secure  unequal  advantages  over  the 
rural,  the  same  relative  disparity  of  the  two  would 
continue  to  exist  as  heretofore,  and  thus  the  same 


266  Rural  versus  Urban 

dangerous  inequilibriiim  of  economical  affairs 
wotild  be  perpetuated.  We  thus  see  that  no 
adequate  or  effective  substitute  can  be  found  in 
any  external  resources,  and  only  a  feeble  relief 
can  be  expected  from  a  natural  internal  expansion 
of  our  agriculture. 

To  what  remedy  alone  are  we,  therefore,  driven 
to  restore  that  just  relation  of  the  two  capital 
elements  of  our  national  economy,  upon  which  the 
integrity  and  stability  of  the  whole  depends? 
The  remedy  is  obvious,  and  approved  by  nature. 
Sweep  away  those  legislative  measures  and  fiscal 
agencies  that  essentially  operate  to  produce  an 
unnatural  distribution  of  the  nation's  varied  pro- 
ducts, and  let  the  diffusion  of  the  fruits  of  the 
nation's  increase  be  a  natural  and  equable  one. 

It  is  evident,  however,  that  this  imports  a  re- 
laxation of  the  urban  hold  on  the  political  power 
and  wealth  of  the  nation,  and  a  steady  concession 
to  the  rural  element ;  in  fact,  it  involves  in  principle 
a  restitution,  through  the  unobstructed  operation 
of  nature's  laws,  of  that  which  has  been  acquired 
through  a  long  violation  of  them.  Herein  lies  the 
crux  of  the  whole  perplexed  question.  As  in  the 
totality  of  her  operations  it  is  the  trend  of  nature 
ever  towards  conserving  changes,  we  may  look 
for  a  corrective  at  her  hands  for  disorders  that 


Their  Proportionate  Growth      267 

have  been  wrought  in  her  harmony  by  the  im- 
patient and  impotent  efforts  of  men  to  hasten 
her  processes,  by  diverting  and  misdirecting  her 
laws  from  general  to  specific  purposes  and  results. 
As  it  is  a  renunciation  quite  beyond  what  can  be 
reasonably  expected  of  mankind,  that  they  should 
voluntarily  yield  to  others  even  an  unfair  acquisi- 
tion, nature  can  therefore  supply  the  only  adequate 
corrective. 

In  a  general  advance  of  industrial  affairs  in 
our  country,  we  have  seen  that,  after  having  for 
centuries  followed  natural  or  co-ordinate  lines  of 
development,  there  were  suddenly  interposed 
policies  and  methods  that  promoted  special  in- 
terests at  the  expense  of  the  general  good  and 
advantage.  This  policy  was  abetted  by  laws  of  a 
special  character,  the  discriminating  nature  of 
which  was  rendered  effective  for  their  special 
purposes  only  by  casual  conditions  and  circum- 
stances. 

It  was  the  occasion  of  our  Civil  War  that  gave 
that  predominance  to  the  urban  section  of  our 
country  which  promoted  the  enactment  of  measures 
so  distinctly  in  their  own  favor,  and  so  directly 
imfavorable  to  the  rural  element  of  the  nation. 
So  partial  a  dispensation  of  laws  would  have  been 
quite  impossible  among  a  people  so  largely  agri- 


268  Rural  versus  Urban 

cultural  had  the  mind  of  the  nation  been  in  repose, 
or  at  least  not  under  the  eclipse  of  internecine 
distractions.  Yet  even  in  their  enactment  they 
would  have  failed  of  their  full  power  to  create 
special  advantages  had  there  not  been  present 
those  phenomenal  conditions  for  a  possible  rapid 
agricultural  expansion  that  we  have  pointed  out, 
and  that  gave  a  practicable  application  to  those 
measures,  whereby  were  realized  those  remarkable 
results  not  fully  anticipated  even  by  those  classes 
in  whose  special  favor  they  were  created. 

To  what  extraordinary  extent  these  laws  favor- 
ing the  urban  as  against  the  rural  classes  operated 
to  draw  the  fruits  of  productive  industries  through- 
out the  nation  into  the  cities,  we  have  shown  with 
sufficient  statistical  support.  We  will  now  point 
out  how  the  even  balance  of  cause  and  effect,  every- 
where displayed  in  the  operation  of  natural  laws, 
eventually  rises  superior  to  the  ordinances  of  man 
when  not  in  accord  with  them. 

No  economic  law  is  more  deeply  groimded,  or 
its  effects  more  constantly  manifest,  than  that  the 
flow  and  determination  of  capital  in  a  given  direc- 
tion is  in  direct  proportion  to  the  assurance  of 
profitable  retiuns  upon  it.  In  whatsoever  manner 
we  may  choose  to  view  it,  those  measures  that 
both  directly  and  indirectly  had  their  origin  in  our 


Their  Proportionate  Growth      269 

unfortunate  civil  conflict  powerfully  operated 
(when  the  special  necessities  of  that  conflict  ended) 
to  greatly  favor  those  industries  connate  with  the 
tu-ban  state  of  mankind,  and  as  adversely  to  those 
of  the  great  rural  classes  of  the  nation.  As  a 
direct  consequence,  they  drew  both  the  capital  and 
population  of  the  one  towards  the  other,  through 
the  increased,  artificial,  and  dominant  financial, 
economic,  and  social  attracting  forces  centred  in 
the  cities,  the  principle  of  which  lay  in  those 
measures  that  enhanced  the  one  through  the 
depression  of  the  other.  So  constant  and  distinct 
has  been  this  ebb  of  the  rural  element  towards 
the  artificially  stimulated  tuban  centres,  that  it 
has  already  awakened  the  solicitude  and  alarm 
alike  of  the  social  and  political  student  of  our 
country,  and  has  visibly  loomed  with  gravest 
portents  to  the  moral  well-being  of  the  people, 
and  even  to  the  tranquillity  of  the  state. 

As  a  marked  result  of  this  diversion  of  the 
natural  course  of  diffusion  and  processes  of  dis- 
tribution, through  intervening  ordinances  of  man, 
we  have  shown  the  wide  disparity  in  a  concentra- 
tion of  capital  and  wealth  in  the  lesser  urban 
element  of  the  nation  in  striking  contrast  with  that 
of  the  vastly  larger  rural  portion  of  it  since  the 
passage  of   those  measures  specifically  favoring 


270  Rural  versus  Urban 

the  one  class  over  the  other.  In  this  connection, 
it  must  be  recalled  that  statistics  show  that,  prior 
to  these  discriminating  laws,  both  the  rural  and 
urban  sections  of  the  country  were  in  their  material 
and  general  advancement  pari  passu,  on  lines 
parallel  with  the  importance  of  the  respective 
positions  they  held  in  the  civic  and  industrial 
spheres  of  the  nation. 

It  must  distinctly  be  remembered,  also,  that 
this  unequal  distribution  could  have  been  effected 
only  through  the  excessive  growth  of  agriculture 
and  its  products,  and  could  have  continued  only 
as  long  as  this  excess  prevailed;  and  the  one 
must,  in  the  very  nature  of  the  situation,  have 
reached  its  zenith  when  the  other  had  attained  its 
full  altitude.  To  all  those  who  have  been  in  a 
position  to  acquire,  and  have  availed  themselves 
of  their  opportimities  to  form,  a  correct  opinion 
of  this  great  question,  it  must  be  apparent  that  the 
noontide  of  abnormal  agricultural  growth  has  been 
reached, — in  fact,  has  already  passed.  With  this, 
also,  the  other  has  necessarily  marked  the  climax 
of  its  abnormal  expansion. 

Mark  how  truly,  in  its  ultimate  results,  nature 
restores  an  infallible  harmony  of  all  her  parts. 
In  virtue  of  the  sudden  and  remarkable  glut  of  the 
world's  food  products  during  the  last  decades  of 


Their  Proportionate  Growth      271 

the  previous  century,  from  causes  which  we  have 
hitherto  given  in  extenso,  there  was  a  correspond- 
ing accession  to  its  population  through  a  well- 
known  law  of  human  increase ;  and  there  has  been 
reached,  concurrently,  a  condition  of  pressing 
consumptive  demand  on  the  one  hand,  and  a 
relatively  insufficient  supply  on  the  other. 

To  any  one  familiar  with  the  subject,  it  is 
apparent  that  the  food  supply  of  our  country 
can  in  future  increase  only  in  that  ratio  which 
prevailed  prior  to  the  era  when  abnormal  pro- 
duction set  in,  and  during  which  the  low  tide  of 
prices  was  reached  through  a  stifling  superabim- 
dance.  A  general  higher  level  of  agricultural 
prices  and  values  is  therefore  inevitable, — in  fact 
is  now  upon  us,  as  could  have  been  expected. 
Having  at  last  returned  to  the  true  and  normal 
conditions  of  agriculture,  are  we  not  simply  in  like 
manner  returning,  as  a  natural  consequence,  to  its 
normal  prices  also? 

To  those  in  the  habit  of  careful  reflection  on  this 
subject,  it  is  equally  manifest  that  the  world  at 
large  has  permanently  entered  upon  an  indefinite 
period  of  steady  advance  in  agricultural  prices  and 
values,  now  that  a  larger  total  population  forms 
a  greater  basis  for  increased  yearly  demand.  As 
this  supply  can  no  longer  be  aided  or  stimulated  by 


272  Rural  versus  Urban 

adventitious  circumstances  to  the  same  extent  as 
in  the  past  half -century,  it  will  tend  less  and  less 
towards  meeting  in  a  commensurate  manner  the 
increase  of  a  demand  that  is  imder  no  limitation 
of  a  like  nature,  and  therefore  this  demand  must 
ever  press  more  heavily  upon  supply. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  supply  of  the  urban 
commodities  will  tend  towards  a  greater  and 
greater  excess,  with  a  lower  range  of  prices  and 
values  as  a  result.  Having  been  largely  the 
product  of  transitory  conditions  and  artificial 
measiires  and  influences,  it  can  no  longer  be  in 
accord  with  the  normal  conditions  to  which  ag- 
ricultural production  has  again  returned,  after  the 
long  period  in  which  it  was  subject  to  the  cyclonic 
sweep  of  unnatural  causes.  It  is  on  this  battle- 
field of  the  contending  forces  of  an  unequal  in- 
crease of  demand  and  supply  that  a  future  conflict 
is  to  be  waged,  that  may  cause  a  drastic  readjust- 
ment of  values  and  population,  with  disturbances, 
and  even  convulsions,  in  the  whole  field  of  industry 
such  as  may  shake  the  very  foimdations  of  our 
nation's  economic  structure. 

A  return  of  the  urban  element  of  the  country, 
both  as  to  wealth  and  population,  to  a  normal,  justy 
and  stable  relation  to  the  rural  seems  inevitable, 
since  it  is  of  nature's  order.     This  of  a  necessity 


Their  Proportionate  Growth      273 

must  ensue  from  the  very  force  of  economic  laws, 
which  in  the  end  will  supersede  and  triumph  over 
the  desires  and  efforts  of  the  urban  element  to 
avert  and  avoid.  We  have  seen  how  statistics 
disclose  an  astounding  difference  between  the  ac- 
cumulated wealth  and  current  gains  of  the  rural 
and  urban  classes  respectively,  the  one  being 
far  below,  and  the  other  as  much  in  excess  of, 
what  should  have  been  obtained,  had  they  been 
left  solely  to  the  directive  force  of  normal  con- 
ditions and  just  laws.  Through  the  restorative 
action,  therefore,  of  natural  conditions  a  rapid  and 
continued  reversal  of  a  situation,  long  forcibly 
maintained,  seems  destined  to  ensue.  In  the 
very  nature  of  agricultural  affairs,  they  must  in 
the  end  be  fixed  and  limited  by  natural  barriers, 
while  those  of  an  urban  nature  are  bounded  only 
by  the  will  and  ambition  of  man. 

A  limited  supply  of  the  one  with  an  ever  in- 
creasing and  pressing  demand  upon  it,  together 
with  an  ever  increasing  over  supply  of  the  other 
with  a  resultant  lessening  of  prices,  will  cause  a 
continued  rise  in  those  of  agriculture,  with  a 
greater  assured  prosperity,  and  at  the  same  time 
a  downward  tendency  in  prices  and  values  of 
urban  products.     The  result  is  obvious;  for  with 

increased  and  increasing  values  in  the  one,  and  a 
18 


274  Rural  versus  Urban 

correlative  decrease  in  the  other,  the  agriculttiral 
field  will  give  surer  promise  of  greater  and  more 
ample  rewards  to  capital  and  labor  than  that  of 
the  overweighted  and  surcharged  urban  industries. 

Thus  there  will  ensue  a  continuous  flow  of  capital 
and  labor,  from  that  of  the  less  to  the  more  profit- 
able field  of  industry,  which  will  endure  imtil  the 
unnatiu*al  surplus  of  the  one  is  depleted  and  trans- 
ferred to  redress  the  deficiency  of  the  other,  and 
until  that  just  proportion  of  the  two  great  branches 
of  the  national  industry  is  again  restored,  bringing 
once  more  a  stable  and  harmonious  condition  to 
the  whole  body  of  the  nation's  industrial  activities 
such  as,  let  it  be  hoped,  will  never  again  be  dis- 
turbed. This  in  essence  is,  as  you  will  observe, 
but  nature's  final  assertion  of  her  dominion  over 
misdirected  human  action,  re-establishing  that 
equilibrium  temporarily  and  seriously  disturbed 
by  man,  which  resulted  in  a  far  less  final  aggre- 
gate of  beneficial  results  than  if  he  had  been  con- 
tent to  permit  her  operations  to  flow  undisturbed, 
as  they  tdtimately  and  inevitably  will  in  despite 
of  all  contrary  human  efforts,  with  imdeviating 
regularity  and  harmony. 

In  the  array  of  statistical  matters  we  have  pre- 
sented with  their  valid  inferences,  deductions,  and 
legitimate  conclusions,  it  has  been  our  purpose  to 


Their  Proportionate  Growth      275 

point  out  how,  through  the  instrumentality  of 
laws  that  deflect  distribution  from  its  legitimate 
and  natural  channels,  an  undue  share  of  the 
nation's  increased  wealth  may  be  diverted  to  the 
direct  benefit  and  advantage  of  specially  favored 
interests  and  classes.  When  this  class  is  the 
urban,  and  therefore  the  less  numerous  one,  this 
excess  of  wealth  is  to  be  deplored,  as  it  becomes 
a  distinct  menace  to  the  tranquillity  and  even 
the  stability  of  the  state;  since  in  virtue  of  the 
very  constitution  of  mankind  in  his  collective  and 
concentrated  form,  a  plethora  of  wealth  becomes 
in  an  intensified  degree  a  vice-generating  power, 
radiating  its  influence  throughout  the  whole  social 
and  political  body  of  the  nation. 

While  we  do  not  believe  that,  in  principle,  any 
law  can  be  approved  the  spirit  of  which  operates 
to  divert  an  undue  share  of  the  nation's  wealth  to 
the  distinct  advantage  of  a  special  class  or  interest, 
it  must,  however,  appear  to  the  impartial  mind 
that  were  the  influence  of  such  laws  directed  to 
the  special  benefit  of  the  rural  rather  than  of  the 
urban  classes,  the  sum  of  their  evil  influences  would 
be  far  less  in  the  former  case  than  in  the  latter. 
The  reasons  are  obvious,  as  not  only  are  the  con- 
stituent units  in  their  diffused  form  of  rural  life 
less  conducive,  by  reactive  influences,  to  engender 


276  Rural  versus  Urban 

through  inordinate  wealth  multipKed  forms  of 
vice,  but  they  do  not  possess  that  facility  for  their 
wide  and  ready  diffusion  throughout  the  whole 
body  of  the  people,  such  as  is  peculiar  to  the  urban 
condition  of  mankind. 

The  truth,  succinctly  stated,  is  that  during  the 
past  fifty  years,  urged  on  by  the  pressiire  of  an 
impatient  and  false  spirit  of  progress,  we  have  in  a 
manner  dissipated  the  fairest  agricultiu"al  patri- 
mony ever  received  by  man  from  the  bounteous 
hand  of  nature,  and  (as  is  the  wont  of  the  improvi- 
dent) we  now  find  oiu*selves,  at  a  time  when 
abimdance  should  prevail,  in  the  midst  of  an 
increasing  scarcity.  Had  our  nation  been  content 
to  make  haste  more  slowly,  the  rich  treasures  of 
our  vast  agricultural  domain  would  not  have  been 
recklessly  unlocked  and  scattered  broadcast  in 
such  a  profligate  manner;  but  they  would  have 
been  prudently  hoarded  so  that  at  the  same  time 
the  tillers  of  the  soil  would  have  received,  in  re- 
turn, a  full,  fair,  and  just  reward  for  their  labor, 
in  a  co-equal  share  of  the  nation's  various 
products. 

It  is  true  that  we  would  not  be  able  to  con- 
template, as  we  now  do,  as  oiu*  chief  reward  for  this 
improvidence,  the  outward  display  of  urban 
brilliance,   with   its  internal   leaden   and   dismal 


Their  Proportionate  Growth      2^-] 

realities;  but  on  the  other  hand  we  could  contem- 
plate a  rural  condition  so  rich  in  the  fulness  of 
a  completed  and  contented  life,  that  no  fatal 
allurements  of  a  seething  xirban  life  would  cast  its 
shadow  over  the  fair  scene,  to  disturb  the  tran- 
quillity and  perfect  contentment  that  always 
dwells  and  reigns  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  a 
truly  prosperous  and  happy  husbandry. 

More  than  this,  our  cities  would  not  be  sur- 
charged with  that  welter  of  a  threatening  and 
turbulent  indigence  which  ever  attends  on  an  over- 
stimulated  metropoHtan  life,  and  whose  constant 
cry  for  **  bread  and  amusement "  sends  its  ominous 
and  sinister  thrill  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  nation.  Even  more  than  all,  our 
country  would  find  itself  still  possessed  of  a  vast 
untouched  domain,  whose  nascent  treasures  and 
resources  would  supply,  for  generations  to  come, 
a  sure  safeguard  against  the  dangers  and  perils 
that  ever  lie  in  the  pressure  of  a  redundant  urban 
poptdace. 


XVI 
THE  REIGN  OF  CHANCE 

A  GAIN  reverting  to  the  many  contributive 
^^  agencies  we  have  heretofore  considered, 
whereby  the  urban  classes  are  enabled  to  draw 
from  the  whole  field  of  productive  energies  a 
disproportionate  share  of  labor's  rewards,  we  see 
that  the  power  to,  at  will,  direct  and  control  the 
ebb  and  flow  of  the  nation's  prime  forces  of 
production  and  exchange  to  their  own  immediate 
and  unwarranted  advantages,  becomes  more  than 
all  others  the  most  potent  in  its  centralizing 
tendencies. 

It  is,  however,  impossible  not  to  believe  that 
those  material  agencies  projecting  everywhere 
from  the  urban  centres,  penetrating  in  their 
minute  ramifications  the  very  depths  of  the 
nation's  moral  and  material  substance,  have  not, 
along  with  their  great  concentrating  power,  the 
equal  one  also  of  radiating  the  accumulated  forces 
thus  centralized  within    them.      With    an    ever 

278 


The  Reign  of  Chance  279 

increasing  multiplicity  and  efficiency  of  those 
instruments  of  absorption  and  diffusion,  it  is 
manifest  that  the  urban  centres  will  more  and 
more  impress  their  salient  characteristics  upon 
the  entire  social  and  material  body  of  the  nation. 
Whether  this  is  to  be  more  to  the  ultimate  weal 
or  woe  of  the  whole  people  depends  solely  upon 
whether,  in  their  innate  tendencies,  there  is  a 
greater  trend  towards  virtue  or  vice  in  man- 
kind, in  his  collective  state  in  cities,  than  in  the 
more  diffused  form  of  rural  life.  History  once 
more  teaches  that  it  is  the  uniform  experience  of 
the  human  family,  from  the  ancient  to  the  modem 
Babylon,  that  the  cities  (especially  the  larger  ones) 
have  grown  no  less  the  congenial  home  of  vice. 

Considering  the  almost  magic  power  the  cities 
now  command  to  disseminate  with  extreme 
facility  their  peculiar  vices,  as  well  as  virtues, 
throughout  the  whole  social  body,  one  may  well 
feel  deep  concern  at  the  possible  state  to  which 
man  may  yet  be  reduced,  when  it  is  remembered 
that  he  is  prone  to  yield  rather  to  the  promptings 
of  his  selfish  passions,  than  to  the  guidance  of  con- 
science and  reason. 

It  seems  to  have  become  a  fixed  distemper  of 
the  human  mind  to  look  upon  chance  as  a  charm  to 
securely  and  freely  conjure  with;  as  though  fate 


28o  Rural  versus  Urban 

stcx)d  ever  ready  to  bestow  what  nature  is  equally 
loth  to  grant.  To  what  fateful  lengths  may  this 
conceit  yet  carry  man,  now  that  in  his  worship  of 
this  fickle  goddess  he  need  no  longer  seek  her  mystic 
shrine,  since  her  altar  is  everjrwhere  brought,  with 
all  its  allurements,  into  his  very  presence?  Thus, 
while  we  are  listening  supinely  to  our  accustomed 
homilies  from  the  pulpit  on  the  evils  and  dangers 
of  gaming,  we  incautiously  permit  the  poisonous 
roots  of  a  greater  Monte  Carlo  to  silently  and 
insidiously  penetrate  into  the  sacred  precincts  of 
every  household  in  the  land. 

When  we  consider  in  what  manifold  forms  its 
influence  is  even  now  manifest  in  all  human  affairs, 
the  danger  becomes  apparent  that  the  chance  and 
hazard  taking  habit  may  yet  develop  into  the 
dominant  and  ruling  propensity  of  mankind. 
Already  those  miraculous  agencies  in  the  hands 
of  the  cities,  that  destroy  alike  space  and  time, 
are  visibly  instilling  the  virus  of  their  many 
evil  customs  and  methods  into  the  various  in- 
dustries diffused  throughout  the  nation,  hitherto 
exempt  from  them.  Even  now,  the  entire  rural 
element  of  the  country  is  being  closely  and  inti- 
mately linked  to  the  chance-taking  centres  of  the 
nation.  It  is  therefore,  even  at  the  present  time, 
no  unusual  circumstance  for  the  farmer  to  leave 


The  Reign  of  Chance  281 

his  plough  in  the  furrow,  and  with  it  his  honest 
labor,  and  repair  to  the  well-installed  telephone 
in  his  own  home,  to  enjoy  the  thrill  of  a  venture  in 
the  wheat  pit  of  Chicago  or  the  stock  market  of 
New  York.  And  who  can  doubt  what  the  final  re- 
sult will,  uniformly,  be  to  these  votaries  of  chance? 
As  in  the  indulgence  of  all  things  evil  in  nature, 
every  gratification  only  quickens  the  appetite  and 
stimulates  desire,  we  may  yet  see  agriculture,  the 
noblest  and  least  tainted  pursuit  of  man,  reduced 
to  the  incongruous  medley  of  honest  creative  effort 
and  speculative  venture.  The  daily  routine  of  the 
farmer's  life  may  thus  ultimately  become  a  round 
of  rapid  alternations  between  the  ticker  and  the 
plough. 

To  fully  realize  the  far-reaching  danger  of  this 
fatal  facility,  we  need  only  to  point  out  that,  wide 
as  the  intervening  distance  may  now  be  that  sep- 
arates the  chance-takers  and  the  centres  wherein 
the  chance-taking  propensity  is  indulged,  they 
are,  in  fact,  even  nearer  and  more  intimately  con- 
nected therewith  than  even  their  forefathers  were, 
who  dwelt  in  the  cities  where  these  dangerous  foci 
are  centred. 

And  why  not,  for  does  not  this  condition  in  no 
small  measure  even  now  actually  exist  in  many 
other  branches  of  trade  and  industry  throughout 


282  Rural  versus  Urban 

the  country?  And  where  will  the  ultimate  gains, 
that  flow  in  countless  affluent  streams,  find  their 
final  cumulative  centre  but  in  the  cities? 

Thus  the  absorptive  powers,  together  with  an 
equal  measure  of  radiating  influences,  that  the 
cities  have  ever  specially  possessed,  become  in 
these  modem  times  reinforced  to  an  inordinate 
degree.  Even  in  the  simple  and  homogeneous 
conditions  of  national  life,  a  conflict  between  the 
rural  and  urban  has  ever  been  a  disturbing  force 
inimical  to  the  security  of  the  state,  uniformly 
ending  in  the  ultimate  dominance  and  disastrous 
influence  of  the  latter. 

As  the  same  vices  and  passions  as  of  old  still 
sway  mankind,  how  can  we  view  the  multiform 
instruments  of  intenser  and  more  intimate  inter- 
action, working  in  a  more  direct  and  also  insidious 
manner,  in  any  other  light  than  as  distinctly  tend- 
ing in  an  equal  measure  to  hasten  that  catastrophe 
awaiting  all  nations  in  which  the  urban  becomes 
the  ruling  influence  and  power?  This  seems  in- 
evitable, since  the  many  modem  and  beneficent 
instruments  for  furthering  human  action,  so  salu- 
tary in  their  moderate  and  wisely  directed  use, 
become,  in  the  reverse  order  of  their  merit,  vehicles 
productive  of  most  disastrous  consequences  in 
their  perverted  form. 


The  Reign  of  Chance  283 

The  problem  long  confronting  mankind,  as  to 
what  extent  rural  life  and  conditions  could  be 
subordinated  to  the  urban,  consistent  with  national 
security  and  stability,  has  become  in  these  rapid 
days  an  even  more  urgent  and  pressing  one. 

It  is  to  the  assiduous  attention  and  zealous 
care  to  maintain  inviolable  the  predominance  and 
purity  of  rural  affairs  and  institutions,  that  China 
mainly  owes  that  racial  vitality  and  national 
strength  which  has  enabled  her  to  survive  all 
other  civilizations  through  historic  times,  and  still 
to  preserve  such  reserve  force  as  may  cause  her  yet 
to  outlive  many  nations  possessing  a  greater 
brilliance  of  what  now  seems  to  be  a  higher  and 
more  advanced  civilization.  Agriculture  in  that 
country  has  ever  been  the  overwhelming  pursuit 
and  held  in  the  most  honorable  esteem,  city 
building  and  urban  life  being  merely  incidental 
to  it.  That  is  but  to  say,  there  was  sustained 
throughout  her  history  a  just  mutuality  of  all 
her  industrial  interests  and  pursuits,  which  alone 
can  secure  their  perpetuity  as  a  sound  and  healthy 
whole.  There  has  never  been  a  "Hodge"  or 
"Hayseed"  in  the  annals  of  her  agriculture,  which 
has  ever  been  animated  and  ennobled  by  royal 
example. 

What  may  be  the  transformation  in  her  indus- 


284  Rural  versus  Urban 

trial  life  and  system  by  the  adoption  of  the  many 
modem  instruments  for  facilitating  and  amplify- 
ing human  activities,  remains  to  be  seen.  No 
doubt,  in  little  time  enough,  there  will  develop  cen- 
tres arrayed  in  all  thoroughness  with  the  most 
approved  tentacular  appliances,  whereby  large  dis- 
tricts shall  be  sapped  and  drained  of  their  accumu- 
lated substance  and  resources,  occasionally  to  their 
benefit,  but  only  too  often  to  their  detriment  and 
lasting  injury. 

That  they  will  grow  and  thrive  in  a  country 
so  industrially  constituted  and  ethically  based  as 
China,  with  the  rapidity  and  to  the  extent  that 
some  would  fain  believe,  is  most  improbable. 
The  quietude  and  the  purer  and  simpler  conditions 
and  influences  of  rural  life  and  agricultural  pur- 
suits, impressing  this  people  for  countless  ages, 
have  imparted  to  the  whole  nation  a  firmness  and 
tenacity  of  moral,  intellectual,  and  industrial  tex- 
ture and  fibre,  as  well  as  an  inertia,  which  will 
repel  the  intrusion,  into  her  long  and  well  co-ordi- 
nated body  of  civic  and  political  institutions,  of 
any  new  force  not  strictly  in  consonance  with  the 
concurrent  rights  and  benefits  of  all. 

The  innate  conviction  of  the  Chinese  people  that 
a  national  autonomy,  a  civic  integrity,  and  an 
efficient  political  system  can  be  maintained  only 


The  Reign  of  Chance  285 

through  vigilantly  preserving  intact  that  relation 
of  all  her  internal  forces  and  factors  which  evolved 
from  a  slow  and  steady  development  through  ages 
of  wisely  directed  experience,  is  manifest  in  the 
universal  dislike  of  her  people  to  subject  them- 
selves to  the  possible  dangers  of  foreign  influence. 
The  close  and  firmly  co-ordinated  body  of  her 
productive  energies,  giving  her  such  superior 
advantages  over  other  nations  whose  material 
economic  forces  are  in  such  a  highly  tense,  con- 
fused, and  unbalanced  state,  will  tend  (the  more 
this  superiority  is  recognized)  to  confirm  the  con- 
viction in  the  minds  of  her  statesmen  that  it  is 
necessary  to  safeguard  and  maintain  the  integrity 
of  her  long-established  and  well-tried  civic  and 
political  institutions. 

The  full  force  of  these  advantages  in  the  world's 
industries  will  only  be  fully  realized  when  China 
comes  to  beHeve  that  a  more  complete  national 
development  is  compatible  only  with  more  general 
and  intimate  external  relations.  How  far  other 
nations  will  find  it  to  their  advantage  to  permit  an 
increased  relation  with  that  coimtry  will  be 
determined  by  the  fact,  that  China  will  ever  have 
far  more  to  offer  than  to  receive  from  the  outer 
world.  However  great  may  be  the  tendency 
among  other  nations  to  restrict  the  growth  of 


286  Rural  versus  Urban 

this  "intercommunion"  of  trade,  the  distinct 
economic  benefits  to  be  realized  by  the  world, 
through  China's  superior  industrial  methods  and 
economies  in  production,  will  insure  to  the  latter  a 
large  volume  of  foreign  trade.  As  the  character 
of  this  trade  will  be  more  of  a  non-agricultural 
than  an  agricultural  bearing  and  nature,  it  will 
tend  to  favor  more  the  urban  than  the  rural 
element  of  China,  and  thus  in  some  measure 
disturb  the  long  and  well-established  proportion 
and  harmony  between  them. 

So  overwhelming,  however,  will  the  rural  and 
agricultural  body  and  sentiment  always  remain  in 
China,  that  it  will  be  impracticable  to  secure 
through  discriminating  laws  any  marked  advan- 
tage for  the  urban  over  the  niral  class,  by  levying 
any  serious  contribution  upon  the  affairs  of  the 
latter,  in  favor  of  the  former,  thus  creating  an  un- 
deserved power  and  influence  of  the  one  at  the 
expense  of  the  other,  such  as  is  witnessed  in  those 
nations  where  there  is  a  reckless  disregard  of 
mutual  rights,  and  where  nature's  processes  are 
wantonly  violated. 

Through  purely  industrial  causes,  therefore,  no 
radical  derangement  or  obstruction  is  likely  to 
occur  in  the  well-established  order  of  her  economic 
affairs,  such  as  exist  in  other  countries  with  their 


The  Reign  of  Chance  287 

political,  financial,  and  civic  disorders.  The  only 
serious  peril  to  China  (one  that  is  common  to  all) 
is  to  be  found  in  the  incautious  adoption,  wide- 
spread distribution,  and  use  of  those  multiform 
instruments  of  concentration  and  diffusion  which, 
along  with  those  of  beneficial  use,  are  certain 
to  include  that  dangerous  one,  also,  which  con- 
verges upon  urban  centres  the  whole  chance-taking 
propensity  existing  throughout  the  nation, — for 
it  must  be  admitted  that  this  fateful  proclivity  is 
no  less  a  trait  of  these  people  than  of  himianity 
in  general. 

As  this,  with  all  evil  propensities,  grows  with 
every  indulgence,  China  may  in  due  time,  as  is 
now  the  case  in  other  nations,  find  that  through  an 
infinite  and  widespread  series  of  sapping  agencies, 
spreading  to  her  remotest  confines,  a  large  share 
not  only  of  the  current  gains  of  her  people,  but 
much  of  her  fixed  wealth  also,  will  be  drawn  into 
the  urban  centres  of  the  nation.  Has  it  not  al- 
ready become  a  momentous  question,  and  of 
deepest  concern  to  all  who  do  not  believe  in  the 
factitious  order  of  things,  as  to  how  much  of 
wealth's  natural  increase  is  to  be  left  to  those  who 
create  it,  and  how  much,  by  the  insidious  perennial 
action  of  this  endless  chain  of  chance,  is  to  be 
carried  to  the  purely  manipulated  centres  of    the 


288  Rural  versus  Urban 

nation?  Nay,  even  a  more  vital  question  may  be 
asked, — whether  all  trade  and  business  affairs  of  a 
nation  may  not  ultimately  be  so  resolved  that 
they  may  yet  be  placed  in  the  common  melting- 
pot  of  pure  chance,  the  alchemic  mysteries  of  which 
are  to  be  presided  over  and  wholly  directed  by  the 
cities? 

It  can  easily  be  imagined  the  measure  of  con- 
demnation that  would  fall  upon  any  method  or 
purpose  that,  in  the  name  of  trade  and  prog- 
ress, should  cause  to  be  transfused,  through 
widely  ramifying  channels,  the  virus  of  infectious 
disease  throughout  a  nation.  Yet  from  this  cause 
the  physical  body  of  the  people  would  siiffer  no 
more  than  would  its  moral  body  through  the  cor- 
rupting virus  of  chance-taking,  poured  in  contam- 
inating streams  through  tiny  filaments  whose 
intricate  network  pierces  the  innermost  recesses 
and  even  the  very  moral  marrow,  as  it  were,  of 
the  nation  itself. 

Thus  much  for  the  forecast  of  a  danger  that 
menaces  China — although  no  more  than  other 
nations — through  the  magic  power  of  the  "  miracle- 
working  "  instruments  of  man,  which  from  com- 
mon radiating  centres  can  penetrate  into  the  very 
heart  and  soul  of  a  nation,  extracting  and  depleting 
the  best  of  its  substance,   and  largely  instilHng 


The  Reign  of  Chance  289 

in  return  the  demoralizing  influences  of  these 
centres. 

It  seems  that  it  must  be  self-evident  to  you 
that,  in  virtue  of  an  innate  capacity  inhering  in 
its  collective  form,  mankind  in  towns  and  cities 
acquires  such  an  unequal  ascendancy  in  the 
political  and  economic  affairs  of  a  nation  as  to 
ultimately  become  a  menace  to  the  stability  of 
the  state, — a  power  that  is  both  hastened  and  en- 
hanced, in  these  times,  by  the  special  agencies  of 
a  *' strenuous  civilization ^  Does  not  war  itself, 
that  last  fell  calamity  of  mankind,  become  a 
source  of  wealth  and  a  direct  and  specific  cause 
of  an  abnormal  growth  and  prosperity  of  cities? 
How  powerfully  may  its  influence  operate  to  that 
end  can  be  realized  when  it  is  considered  that 
the  civilized  nations,  during  recent  years,  have 
expended  from  one  to  two  billions  of  dollars 
annually  in  their  preparations  for  war,  and  to 
preserve  peace.  Recent  authorities  place  this 
expenditure,  during  the  past  half  century,  at  over 
sixty  billions  of  dollars. 

In  this  age  of  Dreadnoughts,  the  records  of  these 
nations  teem  with  a  wearisome  array  of  budgetary 
details  relating  to  preparatory  measures  for 
warfare.  This  is  especially  true  as  to  their  naval 
budgets    and    those    appertaining    to   improved 

X9 


290  Rural  versus  Urban 

equipments  of  the  army,  all  of  which  tend  to 
create  and  promote  industries  and  interests  that 
are  essentially  peculiar  to  the  urban  state  of  life. 
So  momentous  have  these  preparations  and  ex- 
penditures become  that  it  naturally  suggests  the 
reflection,  that  they  may  in  future  be  largely  relied 
upon  as  one  of  the  chief  means  to  create  what  may 
seem  to  be  desirable  industrial  interests  and 
activities.  When  it  is  ftirther  noted  that  the 
armaments  and  armies  are  themselves  usually 
assembled  in  times  of  peace  in  the  towns  and  cities, 
it  becomes  evident  that  the  far  larger  part  of  these 
colossal  expenditures  to  put  the  nations  in  readi- 
ness for  war  inures  to  the  benefit  of  the  urban 
element,  and  that,  of  the  vast  and  perennial  dis- 
bursements, the  rural  element  receives  little,  if 
any,  compensative  advantages. 

Is  not  the  reflection  here  naturally  suggested  as 
to  what  may  have  been  the  influence  of  our  own 
Civil  War  in  shaping  the  relation  of  the  agricultural 
and  non-agricultural  sections  of  our  country  as 
they  now  stand  displayed?  Of  the  myriad  of 
millions  expended  in  that  war  by  the  government, 
in  a  brief  period  of  time,  to  meet  its  reqmsite  ex- 
penses, much  the  larger  part  obviously  operated 
to  directly  create  and  promote  those  industries 
and  interests   that    pertain  and  are  natural  to 


The  Reign  of  Chance  291 

the  urban  element  of  the  nation.  In  this,  along 
with  other  influences  arising  out  of  the  prevailing 
military  condition,  may  we  not  discover  the  in- 
itial cause  of  that  rapid  growth  and  enrichment  of 
the  cities  which  ensued  thereafter,  and  which 
formed  the  distinctive  feature  of  the  development 
of  our  country  in  the  past  half-century? 

Here  let  the  philanthropist,  the  statesman,  and 
the  poUtical  economist  compare,  deliberate,  and 
determine. 

It  must  be  equally  apparent  to  you,  that  those 
modem  aids  that  amplify  human  effort  and  action, 
and  which  in  a  limited  and  reasonable  exercise 
produce  the  greatest  benefits  to  mankind,  can 
become  even  in  a  greater  degree  instruments  of 
injury,  leaving  in  the  affairs  of  man  an  adverse 
balance  in  the  totality  of  their  influence  and 
effects.  Nor,  as  we  believe,  can  it  escape  your 
attention  that,  in  the  aggregate  of  their  beneficial 
or  evil  influences,  a  vastly  preponderating  portion 
is  wielded  to  the  direct  advantage  or  to  the  injury 
of  the  towns  and  cities. 

As  even  in  the  more  primitive  and  less  complex 
forms  of  human  society  there  has  ever  existed  the 
innate  tendency  of  the  urban  to  subordinate  to 
its  own  advantage  the  rural  element  of  the  peo- 
ple, it  is  evident  that  the  power  to  do  so  has 


292  Rural  versus  Urban 

been  vastly  augmented  by  the  factitious  aids  placed 
almost  wholly  at  the  command  and  under  the 
control  of  the  cities,  in  these  modern  times,  with 
their  involved  conditions  of  human  life. 

To  those  who  hold  the  belief  that  the  safety  and 
stability  of  a  nation  can  be  maintained  only  through 
sustaining  a  just  communion  of  all  its  essential 
parts,  and  especially  the  purity  of  rural  life,  does  it 
not  seem  an  ever  increasing  and  pressing  necessity 
that  the  agrarian  rights  and  powers  of  a  people 
should  be  ever  more  vigilantly  safeguarded,  by 
holding  urban  aggression  and  power  under  salu- 
tary restraints,  and  thereby  placing  them  both 
on  the  same  common  and  enduring  basis  of  equity? 

It  is  thus  that  even  a  brief  and  rapid  inquiry 
into  the  chief  causes  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  Rome 
may  become  important;  as  the  cycle  of  her  com- 
prehensive and  completed  life  furnishes  an  object- 
lesson  to  the  world,  the  varied  example  of  which 
may  point  many  a  useful  moral,  and  from  whose 
wide  and  diverse  experience  may  be  deduced  a 
more  or  less  complete  solution  of  important 
problems  that  yet  needlessly  vex  mankind. 


O  (o  Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 

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